This is my first post from Europe. I've been here for two weeks.
It's been an up and down time - make no mistake.
For those who read this (perhaps for the first time?) and don't know, both Gwen and I were told that we would be going to Iraq in the near future. Despite an underlying and fairly longstanding knowledge of this eventuality (i.e. we would be deployed at SOME point), the news came fast and furious and hit us both like a fist in the gut.
From there we both had several days of grief. We heard the news (in a quite tactless manner, I might add) from some higher ups at our new "duty station" (prepare for military term and acronym overload) exactly 10 days after arrival. That was last Monday. We heard in the morning, from our department chief. Following that, we spent the rest of Monday in a semi-daze, doing various tasks we had lined up for the day (mostly continuing the car purchasing process). That night, we went out to dinner with another newcomer here in Germany (an oncologist who was in-processing as well). The dinner was fairly somber; Gwen chose to indulge by drinking more than a half of bottle wine. Then we all sat around and bashed current administrative politics and bitched and moaned about it all. By the time we got back that night, we were both pretty bummed and Gwen was about as drunk as I'd ever seen her. (Personally, I had a large beer, then got more depressed, and hence stopped drinking for the night.)
The next day, Tuesday, I went to the gym first thing in the morning and worked out VERY hard. It helped. The rest of the day we continued doing our moving-to-Europe busy work. Overall, we continued to be pretty bummed.
On Wednesday, we met up with another doctor who had arrived about 2 years earlier and put in a similar situation. She is a pediatrician who ended up going to Iraq by February of her first year in Germany and she spent 12 months there. She talked with us and sort of told us how it was - both elaborating on details and demystifying the whole process somewhat. She said the worst part was the feeling BEFORE you went and all the associated unknowns. Overall she said it wasn't fun but it wasn' t nearly AS bad as she'd feared. She told us some random and odd stories about people in war doing odd things (like multiple people having sex in port-a-potties for some privacy). I actually found my mood improving after that lunch.
By the end of Wednesday, I was actually feeling a little better. I have continued to work out hard almost every day which has been key, I think. Getting back in shape has been the biggest plus of arriving in Germany, I must say. The military does have some nice (and free) gyms.
By Thursday, Gwen and I found out an amazing fact - that is that our friend Pete (of taint fame) will be OUR BOSS while we are deployed! He is a brigade surgeon, stationed about 40 minutes north of us. Medically, his appointment out of residency is kind of depressing - he's being used as a medical admin whore more than anything else, which sucks. However, since he is a notch above us at the 1st Armored Division, he turns out to be in charge of all medical units in the second brigade of that division. Of the second brigade, there are 5 battalions which have doctors assigned to them on a deployment; Gwen and I are 2 of those 5. Pete will be "in charge" of both of us as well as 3 others.
We picked Pete up last night and hung out. It was obviously, good to see the guy, though I don't envy his job, as he is definitely more involved with the "real army" than I would care to be. Gwen and I will become a part of that same army as well, for a time, at least. After that, we are allowed to fade back into our more natural niche in the medical core.
So last night Pete, Gwen, Tony (the oncologist), and I had dinner in a cool German restaurant in Kaiserslautern. We kicked backed some drinks and laughed about the times. By now my attitude is somewhat positive. I don't like going, but we all knew we would go. Looking at the numbers, it looks like a full 5 of the graduating 10 residents from my class will see the desert by the middle of 2006. Probably my chief resident as well - all of this is unheard of in previous years and is nuts. It's comforting to know we'll be in it together, however. Pete, Gwen and I will be on the same airlift down to Kuwait, where we'll hang out together for a few weeks prior to convoying up to our respective duty stations in Iraq. (Let me tell you how much we're all looking forward to the convoy).
The facts of our deployment have changed somewhat. It looks now, like we'll be leaving for Kuwait sometime in early November. After that, it will likely be a full 12 months in the desert. Good bye world cup. Good bye visiting friends from the states. Good bye Olympics in Turin, Italy. (There is still a chance of ONLY going for 6 months, but it seems less likely now).
To all this, I heave a big sigh and then look ahead to my fate. I've been told that I have to go "qualify" with both a 9-millimeter pistol and an M-16. I will be walking around Iraq with a "nine" strapped to my leg constantly. Weird. I may be issued an M-16 as well. Funny how ironic the thought of a physician with an M-16 is. Who would have thought that as a young kid playing GI JOE in the basement it all could have been a prelude to the real?
More to come in time, of course.
As for the rest of Europe, it's actually pretty sweet. I love my new apartment. I await my move in day of 15 August. My new (used) BMW is pretty sweet. After 13 years of driving trucks, it's a quite a blast to crank on a stick-shift, accelerate forcefully, and hug some turns.
Germany is a funny place - every dinner out is an adventure. The service at restaurants tends to suck (as advertised). Whenever you go out for a meal here, you have to be prepared to spend no less than 2 full hours (and mostly 3) at the restaurant being ignored for 30 minutes at a time. My (very) fuzzy German is improving slightly and I can recognize some things now. English is a Germanic language, of course, so some translations are easy. Others are comical. I definitely plan on learning German as best I can through my time here. The people are more friendly than not, I would say (especially the younger ones), though the some of the older ones are so stereotypically stone-faced German that is laughable. I thought it was funny initially that about half of the men over age 45 here look vaguely like Iwan's dad.
I like the food, though it is heavy and you can't eat it every night. The Italian restaurants are especially amazing.
Unfortunately, I have yet to even take a single picture here. I'll try and work on that in the coming weeks; maybe get myself a full "Fun Boy" outfit and everything.
And there it is. The state of the Mick. I'll try and update this thing more frequently. My new apartment will have DSL and the library here isn't so bad (they have wireless so I can bring my lap top). Let's see if can stay more on top of things. I'm still working slowly on the redesign of the web site, but that won't happen until after August at the earliest.
I re-read "The Gunslinger" while in Houston. Oddly enough, it's the story about some lost soul chasing after a dark tower. I don't know why, but that seems fitting.
Mick out.
PS - Enjoy this link - i'm being assigned to the 1st Armored Division, affectionately known as "Old Ironsides". Within that Division, I'm in the Second Brigade, Second Battalion, Sixth Infantry. Pete is the Brigade Surgeon for the Second Brigade. The whole second brigade, based out of Baumholder, Germany, will be going to Iraq together. Other Brigades from the Division, (for example the Third Brigade), are already in Iraq. See if you can follow the link/units icons to my actual infantry company! It's fun! (Not really.)
No comments:
Post a Comment