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ofpeditor

Back from the Sandbox

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hellfish - for some reason i thought you had served with the marines, not the army?

I think Hellfish served in an Army Air assault division, hate to answer the question for him though  tounge_o.gif

No, he was in the Army latrine special assault division.  smile_o.gif

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Holy crap.  wow_o.gif

I remember when I was in we hated wearing our helmets - especially any Rangers in my platoon. Good to see that common sense still prevails over comfort, though.

the old k-pot? don't know if you've had any experience with the mich, but they're a light years ahead in terms of comfort.

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Quote[/b] ]No, he was in the Army latrine special assault division.  

Hellfish in "action"...he needed "help" in assaulting the base of the evil country called turdistan  biggrin_o.gif

swirly.jpg

Anyway, welcome back...  smile_o.gif

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Never fried one yet, and we're going to be out of town anyway. Sorry. sad_o.gifsad_o.gifsad_o.gif

Were the problems you observed incident to the unique nature and environment of combat medicine, or was it more indicative of a general lack of creative perspective? I presume that while you train and prep and repeat, a lot of what you do on the ground, especially in immediate response is to some extent on-the-fly given the random chance for any sort of situation.

Does your employer do 'chaos' training, ie toss out totally random scenarios instantly to test your creative response? Way back in Boy Scout days the very first merit badge I got was first aid. Our instructor, an EMT, was a new scout leader and had never taught first aid before. He taught us out of his EMT handbook, then quized us on response methods based on the trauma identification pictures in the back. crazy_o.gif Not something to show the little kids.

Anyway, we learned it so well that we regularly won all the first aid competitions at scout events around the Seattle area in the early 90's by such huge margins in time and precision that we could afford to slack off in the other events. crazy_o.gif Nothing as crazy as what you've been up to though.

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Never fried one yet, and we're going to be out of town anyway. Sorry. sad_o.gifsad_o.gifsad_o.gif

Were the problems you observed incident to the unique nature and environment of combat medicine, or was it more indicative of a general lack of creative perspective? I presume that while you train and prep and repeat, a lot of what you do on the ground, especially in immediate response is to some extent on-the-fly given the random chance for any sort of situation.

Does your employer do 'chaos' training, ie toss out totally random scenarios instantly to test your creative response?

no worries about the turkey mate, i'm just blowing smoke anyway.

just like any person can be book smart, when it comes time to apply that knowledge, some people just get thrown off; that's the best way to explain what i witnessed. a lot of these guys could spout off all sorts of knowledge, but when it came to a medical response in a sticky situation, they couldn't act on what they knew they had to do. knowing and doing are two different things, and when seconds count you cannot afford to spend the time transitioning from one to the other.

before i even became involved with the firm, i received my medical degree in cardiology. i'd spent time in an ER and trauma center. this was primarily the start of my medical training, prior to ever signing on. once i signed on to the company, the level of training i received was phenomenal and far more than i could have ever expected. every day i'm working with guys who've spent 10-20 years in their respective branches (even a few foreign guys), a vast majority who've had an SF-background, and i get to learn from them every day. we do intense training year-round to help prepare, but you pointed out exactly what i had to learn when i got into this - that not everything you learn is embedded in a textbook. am i glad i'm not stuck in a white lab coat?

oh hell yes.  tounge_o.gif

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No, Army. Couple years active, a couple more in the Guard (all in air assault units, as GoOB said). I was 11B, though, and I was ordered to attend a combat lifesaver course. I never got in to it, honestly - I've never liked blood and needles and there was a lot of that in that job. Sure, I passed the tests, got my little diploma and all, but I never felt comfortable doing any of it. I have a pic of me somewhere giving an IV to someone and I've got a big smile on my face - simply because I was so uncomfortable that I kept giggling my way through it, and that giggle became maniacal when the blood would flow.

In other words, I'd have been one of those greenhorn medic types not doing their job right. Bandages and first aid I could do, until it came to needles. Guh... just thinking about it makes me sick, but I'm the kind of person who goes to the dentist and gets a cavity filled with no anesthetic because I do not want a needle in my mouth.

I'm going to go vomit now, and that only increases my respect for you, ofpeditor. wink_o.gifbiggrin_o.gif

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cavity filled with no anesthetic because I do not want a needle in my mouth.

that would hurt.

lots.

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...combat lifesaver course...

lifesavers_f.jpg

Uses of fruitful treats in the combat zone?  That really seems like a good job for you Hellfish

tounge_o.gif

Anyway, welcome back editor. Good to see you're safe.

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glad ya back safe.

Hang ya helmet on the wall and everytime u see it u be reminded how it saved ya life wink_o.gif

Now....got anymore storys cos I saved the one with the helmet to a documet cos it quite a good story wink_o.gifsmile_o.gif

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Quote[/b] ]just like any person can be book smart, when it comes time to apply that knowledge, some people just get thrown off

An all too familiar tune. sad_o.gif I'm no good at book smarts, I'm lucky IT/IS stuff comes intuitively. Less critically of course, I've seen similar thinking patterns in business. My very first real job ever was doing patch testing for a product pretty much only used by fortune 50 companies, and it was the one product the vendor made that I had absolutely no experience in. Then they double loaded me with a emergency patch validation cycle that I was the exclusive sign-off for the entire vendor on, I don't have any idea how many tens of billions of dollars flow through that product.

Stress? you don't have time for that in the field, so take care of your self and make sure you do get some quality downtime.

So, what were some things you wished you had and didn't and things you really didn't need?

Also, did you get a chance to get out much or was that pretty much restricted to mission operations?

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