My posts on Iraqi Police "gone wild" was just listed on Military.com's Featured Blog via The Sandbox.
Humbled at the recognition...........

http://www.military.com/blog/featured

"Hey, this isn't Camp Wannabe. There's no kite flying here!" I quip as D squared and I walk behind the Alamo to investigate mysterious kite flying activity.
Two Army folks start laughing with us. "The desert wind is perfect." they shot back.
"Who are you guys with?" we ask.
"PsyOps, sir." she said.
"Yea, and I bet you flying Hello Kitty kites to confabulate the insurgents."
They both start laughing hysterically and say "Um, since you mentioned it, look up!" Sure enough, she was flying a Hello Kitty kite!
Psychological Operations----I should have known better.

PSYOP are planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately group behavior. PSYOP is one of the oldest weapons in the arsenal of man, and is considered a non-lethal weapons system.
It has been said the pen is mightier than the sword. When used properly, words can be an inspiration to motivate others:
"Remember the Alamo"
"Give me liberty or give me death"
"I regret I have but one life to give for my Country"
"Ask not what your Country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your Country."
credit Major Ed Ruse (ret) for the educational piece on PSYOP
http://www.psywarrior.com/psyhist.html

Ok, so PSYOP wasn't really using Hello Kitty to win the hearts and minds of insurgents, but it provided great comic relief.

Interesting side note: United States PSYOP units/soldiers are prohibited by law from conducting PSYOP missions on domestic audiences. Anyone ever stationed overseas has invariably suffered through those cheesy Armed Forces Network pentagon-sponsored commercials (no public advertising is allowed on government media stations). Someone tell me those "motivational" commercials aren't crafted by PSYOP......I'm not buying it.

A night on the perimeter

As a deep crimson sun gently sets over the land of the fertile crescent, a small front moves in. With it comes a blanket of sand and dust.....and movement beyond the perimeter. Our perimeter guards spot activity near the flightline, and Paladin tanks begin yet another intricate dance with the enemy. Illumination flares are launched into the night sky. With the night air inflated with sand and dust, the flares look like miniature orange orbs floating across a backdrop of concertina wire, radar dishes, and perimeter outposts. With continuous volleys of light, unknown shadows slink back into the darkness.......

Garry Trudeau's MilBlog: The Sandbox

Garry Trudeau, the author of Doonesbury, launched a military blog last year dedicated to lending voice to military members stationed overseas in support of the war on terror. It's an eclectic mix of entries by service members standing watch for America from all over the globe.

Blog Intro:
Welcome to The Sandbox, our command-wide milblog, featuring comments, anecdotes, and observations from service members currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is GWOT-lit's forward position, offering those in-country a chance to share their experiences and reflections with the rest of us. The Sandbox's focus is not on policy and partisanship (go to our Blowback page for that), but on the unclassified details of deployment -- the everyday, the extraordinary, the wonderful, the messed-up, the absurd. The Sandbox is a clean, lightly-edited debriefing environment where all correspondence is read, and as much as possible is posted. And contributors may rest assured that all content, no matter how robust, is currently secured by the First Amendment.

His latest entry is a small collection of my latest posts, and can be found here:
http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/

Another child hit

Yesterday morning I was working on the flight gear I brought from Al Asad. Impact ventilator checks, monitor checks, re-supplying my flight bag and medications. When all was laid out, an IP patrol truck dropped off another young child after he was hit by a vehicle. Pelvic and femur fractures, including a left thigh filled with blood. (no compartment syndrome, but that was the least of his/our problems at the time). He was barely conscious, and we had to intubate him. He also suffered obvious head trauma, so we splinted his left femur fracture, applied an abdominal binder to tamponade (prevent bleeding into an open space) his pelvic area, started giving blood, and flew him to Balad (neurosurgeon on staff).
The afternoon held promise for yet more excitement. It was a little after 1 PM, and sure enough an explosion rattled our hut door. This was followed by another 30 seconds later. We rushed over to casualty receiving and waited for word from the Army tactical operations center (TOC)-after 20 minutes we figured out the explosions were outside the front gate. We also came to the broad assumption that nobody knew nothing else. Whatever it was, we didn't get any patients.

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Chlorine VBIED attack in Ramadi

Spent the past few days travelling in-theatre. As we shut down the Navy shock/trauma in Al Asad to make way for the Army's Level III hospital, the ortho/trauma team put together some critical supplies in Al Asad for the Ramadi mission. The supplies were supposed to convoy to Ramadi, but a logistical SNAFU kept them in Al Asad. So I flew up to hand carry our gear back to Ramadi.
Trying to get around in-theatre is an inconsistent process. All part of the adventure. I have to send an assault support request (ASR) through Marine Corps. aviation and wait for the request to run up and back down the chain of command. My initial request was granted for Thursday night, but required a connecting helo flight in Taquaddum (TQ) . When I got to TQ, I re-manifested for the next flight and was told it left without me. The manifest personnel in TQ told me this happens on a nightly basis: flights arrive early to get a head start on their runs for the night, and will not wait for you if you haven't arrived yet. Essentially the response is: tough luck, find another mode of transportation. In theory, a confirmed ASR mission number is the same thing as a plane ticket; bird in hand so to speak. However, in practical application out here, anything goes. I ended up catching a C-130 in the morning instead. Of course, that meant spending the night on a cot on the flightline.....
Coming back was equally interesting. I apparently had not one, but two ASR mission numbers. So one of the helos was on the medical pad in Al Asad last night looking for me. They called Ramadi and told them I disappeared. I was on the flight line with all my gear manifested for another flight. This was despite the Army tactical commands at both Al Asad and Ramadi working together over a two day period to get me back. I travelled with two H-53 Helos loaded with Iraqi Army personnel deploying elsewhere in the Anbar Province.

This all brings me to the chlorine VBIED attack I missed Friday. The surgical team was in the middle of triaging and treating patients from a vehicle roll-over in the morning when the blast occurred. They said the blast was significant enough to shake the trauma bay, and they actually felt their clothes lift from the concussion. Within minutes, Bradleys, Strikers, and Humvees descended upon Charlie Medical with patients from every conceivable direction. The entire Army/Navy team worked over 14 hours straight to stabilize, treat, and transport the patients that lived. We were flying patients all over the theatre: Balad, Al Asad, Baghdad, ect. Reports vary, but Charlie Medical said 27 died, and over 40 were treated at our facility. Actual numbers (especially injured civilians) may be higher.
Chlorine VBIED attacks have become more commonplace (9 since January) in the Ramadi/Fallujia Sunni Triangle region. The first attack was January 28, also in Ramadi. The insurgents are reaching out in wider circles to spread panic among the general population. Chlorine is easily available and difficult to control. Although this is making sensational press, weaponizing chlorine is not especially effective. Generally, the heat will quickly neutralize chlorine vapor, and the vapor that survives the heat is not only a visible gas (greenish tint), but has a noxious smell. This makes it fairly easy to avoid, unlike some of the more deadly gases out there such as VX. Chlorine is also water-soluble and is easily irrigated. Having said that, some of the patients did require airway management related to the chlorine exposure. A large vapor level will liquefy alveoli (gas exchange pockets in the lungs) and can quickly cause death. As of now, we are working on ways to counter this threat in the future....and that's all I can say.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Chlorine_Gas_Glance.html
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006973707

Do all the firetrucks have IED's?

Via official channels, Ramadi is quiet. There have been significant crackdowns by the Iraqi Police over the past week, and daily critical incidents are down.
However, maybe there's more truth to my post about "Police gone wild" than I first thought. Monday is the day we lost the child. He was hit by the Iraqi Police. Tuesday, another civilian came in with significant trauma. He was also hit by Iraqi Police.
He came in obtunded with a GCS of 8-9. Anesthesia secured his airway, we gave mannitol (osmotic diuretic to decrease brain swelling), and hyperventilated him. I flew him to Balad within the hour. I knew this was going to be a rough flight when we started giving him doses of epinephrine before I left--not a good prognosticator. Anyway, I was able to get him safely to Balad via Blackhawk. I was so busy managing his blood pressure, heart rate, and end-tital CO2 that it felt like the flight was only about ten minutes. As soon as we touched down, I raced ahead to give report to the ED physician. They asked me where I was coming from, and I temporarily blanked and said "Al Asad". After a few odd looks, it dawned on me that I was disoriented from the flight, so I quipped "I don't know: Iraq!". Always looking to break the tension whenever I can.

Apparently there were significant explosions outside the base while I was flying. As we were coming back to Ramadi, I saw a few fires burning in the distance and a lot of IP vehicle activity...as of now I have no idea what happened. Heard when I got back that several detonations were felt.

If this pattern of running over civilians sustains, I'm going to suggest the IP's switch over to mopeds or something.....At least a gang of AK-47 wielding moped riders won't seem as threatening to the trauma team the next time the front gate "accidentally" forgets to clear weapons.

We also toured the Camp Ramadi fire department yesterday to find out what equipment and capabilities they have. Impressive.
After the brief, one of our anesthesia providers "Bob" asked with all seriousness "So, do all of the fire station vehicles have IED's?" You could have heard a gnat scratching itself as the firemen all looked at each other. One finally said "I sure as h... hope not!" Bob had meant to ask if the trucks all had automated external defibrillators (AED), not improvised explosive devices (IED). I can't do justice to how funny that was.....