Happy New Year!

Well, I stayed up to ring in the new year. We spent the night playing spades and drinking virgin margaritas. I heard a couple of cannons fire off to signal the new year. Otherwise nothing too exciting about today. I am measuring my remaining days off of birthdays (Liz, Madeline, and mine). In fact I am going to change my countdown to days until my birthday, because it is approaching faster than my departure date.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year. I cannot wait to see you all again. Peace.




Recent sunset. Just so you know that the sun does actually shine over this austere place.

Recent sunrise. Yes, you can find beauty anywhere.

plywood

It is amazing what can be done with some 2x4’s and plywood. One can find scraps of wood lying around if they are industrious enough. Our chief in particular likes to build things. He secured some tools when we first got out here and started to go to work. Someone (usually me) will say ‘it would be nice to have a bookcase here’ and next thing you know he has recruited a couple of corpsmen and the saw blades come to life out back. He has made a TV stand, bookcases, CD case, porch, haircut booth, and wardrobe closets all from scraps.

The engineers in our unit also do a great job building things. They are working on putting a plywood floor in our BAS and have just completed doing the same at the chapel. Basically the ground gets saturated with water quickly from the rains and it will literally soak through the tent floor leaving puddles everywhere. What they do is take 2x4’s or 2x6’s and build frames with cross supports every 2 feet. They then place plywood on top and tack it down. This raises the floor off the ground and allows for a dryer environment. The floors actually look kind of nice when finished. What do you think of a cheap wood floor alternative Liz?

I have found a poker game over at the British hospital. They play Texas hold ‘em. I figured that since I am the only one who has ever been to Texas that I may have held an advantage. I have played 4 times and won twice. I'm so money! I am thinking Vegas baby, Vegas!






Wrap around desks and TV hutch all from scraps.













Bookcases


















Front porch to Med Ops (code for staff NCO office space)














New church floor. Benches all made from 2x4's

New haircut hut complete with lighting.

I just finished reading the book ‘The 5000 Year Leap’ by Cleon Skousen. This is a book that I have been meaning to read for some time, but have put off because I thought that it was going to require a lot of mental energy. Instead, I found it to be a very insightful and educational page turner. Basically the author goes about explaining the constitution and the founding principles in America through the writings of our founders of this country…Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Adams… It also goes through some of the primary sources for their thinking like John Locke and Cicero… I think that this is an essential resource because, let’s face it, we do not get any proper grounding in our history and our constitution in our current education system. I also fear that most of our politicians do not fully understand the intent of our constitution and through reading this book you will see that our country is going down the road that our founding fathers had warned us against. I highly recommend reading this book. I think that you will appreciate just how thoughtful our founding fathers were in setting up this country for success.

Below I posted some pictures that I have taken over the past few days. I have included the welcome sign to Camp Leatherneck which is currently going under a huge expansion in anticipation of future troops. I have a picture of a couple of Brits dressing up for the day after Christmas. This is called Boxing day (you can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day). I have also included a picture of me in a beret I just secured from probably the only Filipino in the British armed forces. He is a nurse and the beret is an officer nurse corps beret.

Cheers

Either me a) mocking a sign b) heart broken that I am away from my love or c) dancing to achy breaky heart

Must see landmark in Afghanistan

Brits on Boxing day. They apparently had raced in this garb earlier in the day

Tucker...Mark Tucker

Merry Christmas

Well it is Christmas here. I just got back from midnight mass (actually at midnight). It is pretty amazing if you think of it. We are in the middle of a backwards country where you would probably be beheaded for being a Christian if it were not for us being in an enclosed compound.

It was an interesting Christmas Eve. I was called away from an officer dinner holiday celebration due to a sailor having shortness of breath and lightheadedness. It turns out that she was having most likely a run of atrial fibrillation secondary to recent supplement that she started (has 3 sympathomimetics in it like caffeine and ephedrine related drugs). The next patient came in during our gift exchange after having a bar with over 200lbs on it fall on his chest during bench press in the gym. He ended up having a disruption of his costochondral joint at the fifth rib.

We were able to have our gift exchange as well as a dirty Santa exchange. I think that it helped with the morale. We are pretty much at the half way point which is exciting, but at the same time you realize that you basically have to repeat the same time span again. Regardless, I am still thankful for what I have. What do I have you ask? I have friends and family like you back home to support me, I have my health, I have my faith and I am doing a job that has a purpose.

Peace be with you all.






Some of the corpsmen.













Christmas Eve dinner.














HM1

















Christmas jester.













Just before Christmas midnight mass. It was a packed house.

frocking

The other day we had a frocking of a couple of our corpsmen. Frocking is a process where someone is promoted in rank such that they can wear the rank and have the responsibility, but they are not yet getting paid in their new rank. Basically, it is a way for the military to get more out of you and delay paying you for your work.

Last week the results came out for the corpsmen as to whether they made rank and 2 of my HM2s got selected to HM1. So we had a frocking ceremony (pic below). Just so you know, they no longer frock Navy officers so I am indeed getting paid as a Commander.

I finished reading David Baldacci’s ‘Divine Justice’. It was the sequel to the last book I read ‘Stone Cold’. I liked both books.

I am also reading 5000 year leap which I think should be required reading for all high school students. It is amazing what the intent of our founding fathers was and how it is being mis-interpreted in our current political process. I came across a proverbs 29:2 quote today ‘When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn’. A lot of mourning going on in the news these days.







Newly Frock HM1s

Who is that handsome devil in the middle?

setback

So I got some bad news today. We have a computer tent for which we can use for personal use and e-mail and such. When we arrived the few headsets and video cameras they had were lousy. Therefore, most of us bought our own through Amazon or had family send them forward. Well now, we are told we can only use the few sets available at the tent. This means that you have to be lucky as to whether a set will be available to you should you want to Skype your family/friends. That is only half of it. You also can no longer use thumb drives or other plug and play devices into the computer. This has been the case for the government computers, but not for the ones for personal use. Unfortunately, many of the computers do not have DVD drives and if they do they often do not work. So now it will be nearly impossible to send pictures back home through the internet.

This is what I had to do to post today’s pictures on my blog. I first downloaded the pictures from my camera to my computer. I then burned them onto a CD. I took the CD to the computer in the BAS and downloaded the images. I then sent an e-mail from my military account to my gmail account with the pictures attached. I then walked to the computer tent, waited for a computer, opened my e-mail, downloaded the pictures and then attached them to my blog. Basically, you will be seeing fewer pictures in the future because this is a pain in the butt.

Yesterday was a nice clear day. The day before was rainy all day. The bad news was that there are big puddles everywhere because this ground does not absorb moisture at all. The good news is the dust is all matted down today and you can see a great distance. I could see more mountains behind the nearest and they were snow capped.

I finished reading 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' by Jon Ronson. He wrote about the use of psychics and other paranormal specialists in the government and the military. Is is surreal to think that any part of this could be true. Entertaining quick read if you want something different.






This is an actual Christmas tree that we procured.

This is an Afghan ambulance. They must have really short patients!

happy anniversary to me

Today is my wedding anniversary. We have been married 16 years on Dec 18th. I know it is hard to believe that a) Liz agreed to marry me and b) she has stayed married to me. What can I say except that we have far outpaced the general population as far as time served in matrimony? Liz has been a wonderful wife and a tremendous mother. I am truly blessed to have found her.

I thought that I would use this opportunity to tell you how I proposed to Liz. I recalled this event because Liz sent me some candy coal with an anniversary gift which brought back this memory.

I decided on the evening of the 23rd of December 1992 that I would propose to Liz after Christmas mass on the 24th. I had found the ring and was frantically running around to get the best deal and to pool all the money I had to pay for this diamond. So I am literally running out the door the morning of the 24th with like an hour to go before the bank is going to close for the holiday and I have maybe another hour after that to get to the jeweler to get the ring for that night. Liz calls and is quite perturbed with me because she thought we were going to go to Costco to get her mom her bread maker for Christmas. I told her to give me a couple of hours and then we could get it. Well that did not sit well and I got an @#$ chewing about how important it was to get the bread maker right then and how I was being selfish. (Now that I think about it, maybe she was seeing me only for my Costco membership). Anyhow, I covered the phone and whispered to my mom ‘if she only knew what I was trying to do right now’.

So I told her that the bread maker would have to wait. Now I was a little disgruntled that I am spending my life savings on a ring for the woman I plan on asking me to marry me in about 8 hours and all I got for my trouble was the silent treatment. I decided right then to play a joke on my love.

After mass we went to open presents at her house. She opened the box that I had wrapped and when she finally got to the contents she pulled out a piece of coal and gave me a look like I was crazy (which many of you have learned over the years to be an accurate assessment). I told her that I had told Santa about her bad behavior and bad children usually will then receive coal. I further explained that there was an upside because with the proper conditions and with lots of love coal can turn into something special. I then got down on my knee and proposed with ring in hand.

I know that this is not the most amazing proposal story, but it is my story and it was good enough to win us a bottle of champagne on our honeymoon cruise!

Happy Anniversary Love!

birthday message for Timothy

Today is Timothy's 8th BDay. He was born December 16th, 2001. I am trying to load this video, but a 30 second video on these computers with this bandwidth takes like 30-60 minutes.

I will tell you a brief story about Timothy's birth. I was a pediatric resident at the time and was on call in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). Liz came rolling into the labor deck in the early morning hours. She was stable and I was trying to juggle taking care of the neonates in the NICU and checking on my wife on the labor deck. Well the other resident on the ward called the NICU staff and the staff came in at 0400 to relieve me to be with my wife. He also brought me a coffee to help me stay awake. As anyone knows who has been a resident, you usually get no sleep at night and that coffee just could not hold me. So at mid-morning with Liz stable I sauntered (good descritpive work isn't it?) down to the coffee cart to reload on my caffeine. Right when I was about to get that cup of joe, an overhead page was sent for me to return to the labor deck. Let me tell you, that page was better than any coffee in waking me up. Thankfully, for me, I got back in time for the birth of my third child.

So, I need a volunteer to 'gently' swat Timmy's gluteus maximus eight times to properly indoctrinate him to his new age.

I love you son!. Happy Birthday buddy!

Slamming mat

Our squadron does many tasks to support the Marine air group. One task is to build runways. This entails prepping the land and making sure it is level and compact. The last step is to lay the mats of tarmac down. Kyle would like this task because it involves locking rectangular pieces together as if one was building a massive sheet of Legos. The problem is that these Lego pieces weigh up to 155 lbs each. They call it 'slamming mat'.

Due to necessity and for motivation the staff NCOs and officers have been doing some night shifts laying matting. I recently went out to do my part (and bring my medical bag for the inevitable crushed toe or finger. It is a rather good workout throwing this matting around. Unfortunately, some of the pieces have been used prior and thus they do not always want to fit together easily. During the deployment out squadron will lay 100's of thousands of feet of this matting.





Heave ho, lets go













There are 6 foot and 12 foot sections that are locked together in a pattern.













My partner carrying a 6 foot section of mat














The exciting world of mat laying













Getting ready to 'slam mat'

cranes

Hey, I am back. It has been nearly impossible to blog lately due to extremely slow computers. Can you say 5 minutes to load a page! It still took about 20 minutes to load these pictures tonight and that was while I awaited the swirling Skype sign to try and contact the family back home (it is still trying to connect as we speak).

I am attaching some pictures and hopefully a short clip of these cranes out here that move around these huge containers. They can stack them or set them side by side with incredible precision. They are very wide across and when they travel on the roads it is intimidating (especially if they are traveling with a container in the air. I figured that the kids back home would be impressed.

I am finding that being in charge of a BAS is like running a high school or raising teenagers. Most of my corpsmen are not that far removed from school and they act the part for sure. I am having to see clicks, childish fights, possible romances, temper tantrums.... I guess it will prepare me for my kids one day. I really do not envy chief since it really is his bowl of wax to deal with. Now I know why so many chiefs drink and smoke....to deal with the stress of 'guiding' these young sailors.

I finished a Daniel Silva book ' the Assassin' and a David Baldacci book 'Stone Cold'. I like them both. I am now reading a 5000 year leap (great book so far) and the follow on to Stone Cold. I figure I will give Dean Koontz another try next since someone commented on past blog that I did not give him a fair shake.

Should I be concerned that Obama has a higher popularity rating in Europe than in the United States? I read that his below 50% rating at home is the lowest for any president 10 months into term.






Up up and away

Putting it back

relaxing

I was caught napping last night when I was supposedly studying for my FMF pin (pic below). The flash woke me up (following pic). I have been doing a lot of reading, but not necessarily all medical or military related. There is just so much one can tolerate. I finished a Bill O’ Reily book yesterday ‘fresh bold piece of humanity’ I think the title was. I liked the book overall. It gave insight into his upbringing and life experiences that have molded his opinions and style of work. There were some funny stories. He is definitely an egomaniac, but I kind of knew that going into the book. I am now reading Daniel Silva’s ‘the mark of the assassin’, I will let you know.

I have been playing a lot of card games at night. A favorite is spades with the Marines. They like to trash talk a lot, but you know me, I will handle my own. Last night was a game called phase 10 which was entertaining. It is kind of like a combo of Uno and Gin Rummy. I won. I just felt like I had to tell you that :) The staff NCO’s (senior enlisted) will have PMEs or professional military education sessions at night (wink wink). That’s right, it is just poker. Unfortunately, I have not been able to convince enough officers to engage in this sort of extra-curricular education. Though, I hear that there is a poker game at the British hospital. I may have to set up a ‘symposium’ with them.

I am putting in a picture of a recent Marine injury. It may not be appropriate for minors due to particualr offensive finger gestures. Although, the Marine is not technically able to perform the aforementioned figure gestures (see below)

So, I see that the global warming extremists are on the defensive from the leaked e-mails showing that they were trying to suppress any science to dispel their claims. Now you have the few conservative voices in Hollywood trying to take away Al Gore’s Oscar for his documentary about the planet having a fever. Of course, the White House is trying to defend that there really is a global warming crisis so they can hammer through the cap and trade bill on CO2 emissions (errr big tax hike on the population for more wasteful government spending).

I will tell you one thing. No global warming here in Afghanistan. We don’t have any fevers (maybe chills). Looks like many places around the world are the same way. All I hear about is record snow falls.





Studying?














Waking up to a flash photo.














Which way is up?

Ouch.

quick story

One of my corpsmen had to go to Germany for an evaluation for symptoms he was having. When in Germany he was evaluated by a doctor who asked him who he worked for in Afghanistan. He responded 'I work for the greatest allergist in the Navy'. The doctor than stated 'oh, you work for Dr. Tucker?'

When my corpsman called back to tell me this story I was cracking up. Now, I would never claim to be the greatest allergist in the Navy. However, I am pretty confident that I could be the greatest allergist in Afghanistan! In fact, at the moment I am probably the only allergist in Afghanistan.

Hope all is well back home.

Just the other day my grandmother wrote that I should fire whoever is cutting my hair. I posted my haircut that I received by one of our Master Sergeants previously. I am still staying motivated with my high speed, low drag coif. I am just doing the chore myself these days (sorry grandma). We have a haircut hut that is next to the BAS. Usually what happens is someone goes out there to cut their hair or their friend's hair and next thing you know there is a line of people asking if they can get their haircut as well. I have not yet had the courage to butcher anyone else’s haircut.

I have found a few advantages keeping my hair short. 1) Less gray showing 2) No bed head 3) Spend less on shampoo 4) Can visualize that I still have hair at the acme of my noggin 5) It feels so cool to rub my scalp :)

I just finished another book. This time it is Dan Kootz. The book is called Frankenstein and is the third in a series. It is about Dr. Frankenstein 200+ years later making a 'new race' for a better world order and is bruoght down ultimately by the help of his original monster creation. yeah, not very realistic, but a quick read. Ultimately, I do not recommend.

Most recent movie was 'Righteous Kill' with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. Good cop movie with a twist.

Latest series is 'Flight of the Concords' about 2 New Zelanders trying to make it big as a music act in New York. Perfect for Greg and Cissy.







Haircut hut.

Oh the fun we have in Afghanistan.