I am on alert today.  Getting a lot done.  Slept in a bit with the baby, went to the gym, cleaned the house, lunch, work, and gathering deployment items.  Now we are under 2 weeks.  Wait... wasn't it just 17 days?  Yes, we got moved up 2 days.  Have to be on the East coast and leave from here on that same day.  THAT ain't gonna happen.  So now we leave 2 days earlier.  No big deal really.  Just have to get this checklist DONE!  When you deploy you have to have everybody and their brother make sure you are "Good to go".  I am really surprised that they haven't sent us to the library! (Don't laugh, I really have seen it on our PCS checklist)  Just as they weather is getting nice here, I have to leave.  I actually sat outside today for 10" waiting for my lunch date to pick me up.  And I didn't melt in to a glob of melted goo while waiting!  It was only 85 and low humidity.  The clouds helped as well.

Well, it's getting closer.... and more real....  17 more days.  I picked up my Auto Injectors today.  I guess the threat of being gassed is still real over there.  After all the hype of why we went in there in the first place, I didn't get these when I went to Iraq.  Still, I know we did good things there, WMD's or not.  I did hear of Mustard gas being found over there quite a bit so i guess we were lucky.

I am also ordering a few things off the internet to make my home there more bearable.  But one does one REALLY need when living in a tent?  I guess I was spoiled last deployment.  Iraq 2005.  There I got to live in a 2 person trailer.  Not very big, but at least we had a  door and a few milk crates between us two for privacy.  Trying to stock up on cards to send back to hubby and kids.  They probably won't have ANY where I am going.  And the ones they do get, are all military related and usually guy focused.  LIKE GIRLS DON'T DEPLOY!!  I hate that........  And buying the kids a few things to have while I am gone.  I talked with a fellow deployer, J, and he stated another person was going with us.  I asked why?  Did someone drop out?  He said "No, it is just that she is our squadron running-Nazi and coming along to make us run"  GREAT!!!  Actually, I wanted to do the P90X while we were there so we will all be in great shape when we get back.  Most of us will have to do our PT, Physical training, test when we get back anyway.  When you deploy, you tend to eat less because you don't have a pantry or snack cupboard to indulge in.   You also work out more because there is nothing else to do in your down time.  Well, besides catch up on movies.  

Adrenaline

Ok....day two of my blog.  I tried to make changes and updates and so forth.  I guess I will learn more about what it takes to have a good blog but until then......

Today I am on Alert.  Alert means I sit around and wait for my phone to ring. If there is a Priority or Urgent patient that needs to be moved, I am the one they call.   If called, I have to report in 1 hour so my leash is pretty short.  If I do go someplace of distance, I will usually take all my flying stuff with me.  What really sucks is when I go into the black cement holes they have on this island.  You know...the places where you cannot get phone reception???  Even grocery shopping brings about terror.  As soon as I get outside, I flip open my phone in panic to make sure I didn't miss a call.
Being on Alert is pretty important.  Although most of us look at it as a day off from reporting to the office, it is another opportunity to help our fellow soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines.  It is exciting to have the feeling that someone needs you.  I guess we, all medics, have that sense inside.  I know as a Nurse, we have that innate feeling to assist others.  Maybe because I am a mother too.  Running to help the crying child with the scraped knee is no different than running to the plane to take a wounded troop to more definitive care.  I also think it is that adrenaline rush we all get as well.  Ask any ER nurse.  Ask any paramedic or combat medic.  They will tell you about the rush and the thrill that responding to a crisis gives them.  They can relive many memorable accidents and interventions, catastrophes and life-saving-events.

I think I was always prone to this.  When I was 8 years old, I played on a boys baseball team.  (back then, they didn't have girls softball yet) THANK YOU TITLE IX !!  Anyways, I have played ball since then and ALWAYS hit better with a full count.  When you HAVE to hit the ball, you really buckle down and show what you are made of.  Maybe that is what it is all about?!?!  Maybe when calamity manifests itself, you just really want to show who and what you are made of.

Is it stress that drives us?  Or the exhilaration of performing under the stress???  How do you perform?  Do you like to show others what you are made of?  Does it happen when someones life is on the line?  How catastrophic does it have to be for you to execute and accomplish?

Genesis

In the beginning.....there was a Flight Nurse.  She decided to document her journey.  A small section of her life but a big part of others.  Maybe others will want to know as well.  Whatever comes, it will all be here in cyberspace.  On virtual paper and in my virtual and tangible mind as well.  This journey will be novel in some ways and repetitive in others.  The wounds may be the same but the patients, my troops, and the experiences will not be.    “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.” - Clara Barton