The count down is on.

Hey y'all,
Before getting to the main events of the week here are some photos snapped around camp this week.

Looking east from legoland top floor toward the chow hall (big building in the center) and some of the mountains close in to us, getting near to dusk.

This pair of doves has been on the wheeled stetcher outside my room almost every morning for the last week.

Sorry it has been a little while. Problems with the Internet, all the new guys are using a lot of bandwidth with Yahoo phones, it's cheap but sucks the energy out of the system at night when I try to do my work on the net.

It has been a slow week anyway. Finished up most of my projects. Will be helping the new guys in the wood shop over the next week or so making their cubicles home for the next year. I am trying to make 2 more shelf sets too.

Three highlights this week to talk about, plus a class taught to the new and old medics.

One - I found a phone that does not have a 15minute timer on it, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It was so nice to talk to Chris, Caitlin and Luke for over an hour. I didn't feel rushed and didn't have to worry about Luke taking a long time to tell a story. I had enough time to listen to every wonderful event of their lives from the past week. I wished I had known about it a long time ago.

Two - I went shopping again at the bazaar on Friday. I wasn't really planning to buy anything, just keep Bill from stopping too long. It is a good way to kill some time on a usually slow day. I went by the rifle dealer just to take a look. They have a lot of old English Enfield rifles here. I hear they can be worth a lot back in the states. I've been learning about them from the people interested in them. Anyways, I got to looking through what he had and found a really cool one. It has camel bone inlaid over the entire stock and the wooden part under the barrel. That was pretty cool, but I've seen that before. The bonus was that all of the exposed metal of the rifle was engraved with some very nice designs. The rifle is a work of art, as far as a gun goes. It was raining a little too and the shop keeper did not have much business so the bartering was on my side. I only went up 10 and he came down 30. It feels like a good deal. I'm not going to sell it, but put it up on the wall at home as a piece of art and a reminder of this land and the time I've spent here. It reminds me of the beauty of the people, their culture and the deadly game of war being played out here.

Three - While on call yesterday I got a call from the front gate saying a boy with a cut was there and also could I take a look at Rambo's knees. I was excited to be able to finally meet Rambo that I said sure. I don't know if you remember me talking about Rambo before I left to come over here or not. This man is a hero here. He had his entire family killed by the Taliban before the war or at the beginning of it, no one is sure. He's been living out in front of the base since we've been here and standing guard with our troops since then. He does it all for free and stands out there from early morning until about sunset. About a month before my deployment a VIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive devise) tryed to ram the gate and set off a bomb. Well he rammed the gate and got stuck, and while trying to make the connections to blow up his car bomb, Rambo ran over and reached through the open passenger window and pulled him out of the car before he could explode it. He beat the guy to the ground and subdued him before the security guards got there and took him a way. They figured he saved at least 30 lives as well as other injuries from occurring.

He does what he does because he believes in our mission and the hope that we'll bring freedom to his land. If that is not a hero than what is? It was a honor to help him, if only in some small way.

Extra: Had a chance to get rid of some materials that were going out of date and teach at the same time. Taught a basic casting class to some of the medics. For most of them it was the first time they had ever tried to put on a cast. It was a lot of fun and some of the casts were pretty good. We had red and green casting material to get rid of. Don't know why, the army says that a cast can only be black or white for a soldier. Go figure.

This is Ingram one of the new medics from South Carolina. I had to let him practice on me because he let me give him a shot on his first day here.

Above are two other medics from South Carolina practicing their new skills. We wear bigger holster here than the one I keep my scissors in back at the clinic. To the left is another finished product being shown off for the camera.The class was fun to teach and everyone had a good time. The biggest challenge was getting them to use the cast saw. Power tools made them nervous. I had to go around and show them that it wouldn't cut if you kept it moving.On the more stern news front - there have been at least 3 attacks on US troops in the past week, including a convoy. The bomber walked between 2 trucks and blew himself up. He caused some injuries to the soldier, but no US soldiers killed. I heard the street was crowded with people and many of them were killed or wounded from the blast. One throat guard on a soldier had metal stuck in it but it didn't penetrate through his armor. We have some outstanding gear! The only damage to the hummers was some of them ran flat tires after being blown out. The other attacks have not caused any damage as far as I've heard. Keep the soldiers in your prayers. Going out of the wire can be serious business and these soldiers do it willingly on a daily basis to try and fulfill Rambo's dreams.

I promise to have more pics of the staff next week as well as finished projects. Thanks again for following my adventures! Miss y'all.