After 4+ years of Active Duty in the military post 11Sep2001 and me constantly requesting to deploy overseas, I finally get my wish. I deployed with the 115th CSH (Combat Support Hospital) out of Ft. Polk, La as a PROFIS'd (Professional Filler System) Emergency Room Nurse. This basically means I'm not a permanant party member but that the unit does not have enough permanants to sustain operations so they fill in the needed spots with other personnel from different locations. The Navy might call me and individual augmentee or some sort. I left HI just before the end of July, flew to Ft. Benning, Ga for some apparently needed training by powerpoint, gear, and my Baretta 9mm sidearm, and arrived in Afghanistan via Germany then Kuwait about two weeks later.
The staff I'm working with has been great. Very accepting with great personalities. At first glance I believe I will fit in perfectly well here. I even know one of the nurses. CPT Lisa Olson worked with me at Tripler before PCS'ing to Ft. Polk. The Doc's seems to be easy going enough, although the newest of the bunch, CPT Calcagno, seems a little on edge. I'll have to keep an eye on him and ensure he has our backs.
The nature of the emergency room while in theater...sit, wait for trauma, wait for trauma, eat, wait for trauma. I think it was 2-3 days after I arrived that we waited for my 1st trauma pt to come in. Once a trauma comes we stablize them and get them into our OR as quick as possible to further stablize and clean up and do some exploratory surgery, then ship them out to Germany as long as they are stable enough for the flight.
My first pt had a GSW to the lower abd with another to the left thigh, both of which went completely thru. My OR contact said several things may have been nicked...For this being my very first deployment and my very first pt of my own, it went better than I anticipated. I got a couple of complements on my performance and I think my ER peeps were impressed with how I handled myself. I was a little nervous and I could tell my adrenaline was kicking in because my hands were shaking ever so slightly. I noticed this when I was trying to open a package to draw up some Fentynal.
Although I'm not a forensics expert, it looked as if the entry wound was to the right lumbar area just above the buttocks and the exit wound was at the left lower abd. The back was about the diameter of a pen and the abd wound was about the size of a quarter/half dollar.
The pt just before the one above had a GSW to the Right hip and you could see the bullet pressing on the skin on the left side. Xray showed a spiral fracture of the right femur. Pretty impressive wound for a bullet, wonder if it was a 7.62mm round????
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