dark days

Three years is a long time for anything. But its been almost 3 years since I said goodbye to you. I remember everything from that day. Like a curse that will never go away. Every smell, every drop of sweat, every shot heard over and over again in my head. I blamed myself for so long for what happened. In all reality it should have been me like that. There’s so many things that have happened since that day that made my life a better life. I try to do well by others. It was my second chance. You told me to move to a different spot. 45 seconds difference and who knows. I strive to do the best I can every day. For you, for the guys on the ground. Because I know what they’re going through. I miss you brother, more than you know and thank you Bart

Hi everyone from Afghanistan!

Its been some time since ive been able to update anything on here. Ive since deployed on my second tour of duty but now im here in Afghanistan. it’s a hell of a lot different than my trip to Iraq a few years ago now. Im now a member of 82nd combat aviation brigade “DUSTOFF” were a medevac company of flight medics who will go in and get the guys on the ground, provide medical aid and get them to a FST (forward surgical team) as quickly as possible. Everything I remember about Iraq was nice and flat and hot as hell, which is just not the case. Right now im at a base with an elevation of 7,500 feet. And I felt it everyday until I grew accustomed to it. It was like gaining 150lbs and running up hills. The elevation just sucked all the energy right out of you. it’s a nice long hike from where we live here to where we work. Ive gotten used to it now/ were surrounded by 10,000 foot mountains all around us, and from what I hear its going to be a miserable winter. I hate the cold. We have run a few calls and until recently it was nice and quiet, but unfortunately that calm is over now. Within seconds were sprinting to the helicopter and suiting up as quickly as possible to get out to the guys who need us the most. Within minutes were racing to get to them because every second counts when your injured. it’s a very orchestrated response, everyone knows exactly what needs to be done and we work as one hell of a team in order to get there as fast as possible. We push the helicopter hard and its like a roller coaster as were going in. We pick up the wounded and rush as fast as we can to the FST while myself and the crew chief are working on the patients in the back. Doing everything from IV therapy, intubations, and surgical interventions in order to keep them alive until we can get to the doctors. Your heart is pumping a million miles an hour. You just want to get there, get him to the help he needs. We can do a lot in the back of an aircraft but not everything. When its over and done im resetting my equipment talking to my crew chief going over everything that we did and making sure were good for the next one. I smoke a cigarette and push it out of my head as best I can, and wait…
Ill be posting some pictures soon hopefully
Take care everyone