Inspiration...

Tonight I wanted to update my journal and I wasn't quite sure what to write. Usually when I get this block in my mind I turn on my sister's music. She has composed, performed and recorded a number of religious songs. If you have never had the chance to listen to her music she has a phenomenal voice and the words speak of her life and love of the Savior. It is one of the most uplifting things I have amidst a world of chaos, death and destruction.

There are a few other inspirations that I have around me. Some are here in Afghanistan and most are at home. Tom Hanks produced a HBO series not long ago called, "Band of Brothers". This TV drama explored the deep reasons surrounding why soldiers fight? The end analysis was that they fought for the guys next to them, not for some super high and lofty ideal or patriotism. It was their brother next to them. Some of my inspirations around me here in Afghanistan are the guys that I work with. Many of these enlisted medics and nurses come from very humble beginnings, poor families and hard lives. This is reflected at times in their behavior and language. But their passion and commitment is reflected in their work. Just yesterday, the local contingent of Afghan Army was smoking right next to their ammo supply point, which caught fire and promptly exploded. This yielded our first true mass casualty event, where there are multiple severely wounded arriving all at the same time. This requires a significant amount of coordination, communication and trust in our nurses and medics. 11 patients, 4 major operations and 8 hours later, the dust settled and all of my team performed remarkably. All of these guys have so much potential and I love hearing about their aspirations and plans for their future. It gives me hope for them and their families to leave behind the worlds that they came from.

The other group of "Brothers" that inspire me here in Afghanistan are the guys in my serviceman's group. I can't think of a better bunch of guys. This week, Staff Sergeant Hancock of Springville Utah is going home on R&R to be with his wife at the birth of their third child. It makes me choke up when I think of this faithful soldier, going home to his wife and family for 2 weeks. To see his little baby, then leave them behind so he can answer the call of his nation. SPC Bennett was married just before being deployed. While most newly weds are embarking into the lone and dreary world together, they are trying to get to know each other over the phone and through letters. SSG Chiu is a quiet, and very intelligent Non-Commissioned Officer who is an electrical engineer by training. He too has left a family to come here to this place, which redefines "lone and dreary world". They are all committed to building this place into a nation. That would mean that we can come home. 1st Lieutenant Andy Stockhoff is our group leader. Her served his mission in Alabama and is the project engineer for the biggest project, probably in the entire theater. He is orchestrating the construction of a massive runway that can handle large Air Force cargo planes, allowing us to project our military power throughout this region. All of these guys are amazingly faithful and just being around them make me a better person.

If this war were left into the hands of people like these guys, there is no victory that would escape us.

Sydney, my oldest daughter inspired me this week. She wants to play parks and rec basketball! The big challenge is that it is on a co-ed team. She went to the skills assessment session yesterday and according to Sarah did quite well. She was one of three girls there. The good thing is that she is taller than most of the boys and is pretty athletic. She was really nervous, but pushed through and showed her courage.

Inspiration is all around us, we just have to look for it. Inspiration comes through our interpretation of people, their actions, reactions and how they handle the daily struggles of life. I have learned over my few short years that everyone has a story and as we interact the web of our lives in spun and meshed together such that if we will allow it, and look for it, we can be inspired at every turn.

Before closing, let me discuss the pictures briefly. The top picture is of me and one of my ICU nurses, SPC Garcia. The patient was operated on earlier that day and after the OR wasn't doing so hot. His blood oxygen saturation was low and his heart rate up. We are in a pretty austere environment here and don't have many of the nice adjuncts that we normally do in the US. We rigged up a mask to a ventilator to basically act as a bi-pap mask (like what people with bad sleep apnea have) to forcefully blow oxygen into his lungs, opening up collapsed segments. This worked like a charm and fixed him right up. Victory, one ABG at a time!

The second picture to me tells a story of American ingenuity. American by the flag we hung up in our OR, and ingenuity by the Dewalt power drill on the surgical field. Again, we are in an austere environment and don't have much to work with. We needed to stabilize a bad fracture with long wires that would have taken forever to get in by a manual hand drill. We kept the wires sterile but used to power drill to make our efforts more efficient and in the end saved us a lot of time and energy.

Inspiration...and necessity... the mothers of invention. Below is just a cool video! Enjoy!