Anyone here ever deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan?

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TopSecret

TopSecret

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If so, what was your experience?

Was it anything like this?

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ZG0-FncOQ[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVEdKbn2Q4U[/YOUTUBE]
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Thanks for posting the videos! Videos like these help reinforce my decision to serve.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Thank you for the videos! I was at Balad in 2007--the video brought tears to my eyes because it was my experience there that made me want to be a military doctor.
 
Do these videos demonstrate the average living conditions for physicians that are deployed? Are the tents air conditioned?
 
EMTB2MD said:
Do these videos demonstrate the average living conditions for physicians that are deployed? Are the tents air conditioned?
Click to expand...

Living conditions range from plywood dormitories to metal shipping-container-rooms to existing buildings we've taken over to (occasionally) tents. Virtually everywhere a physician might go these days has air conditioning, hot water, and food that ranges from OK to excellent. If you bring your own internet as I did, and pretend you're not stuck in a dirty hole 8000 miles from home as I tried to, it can be very comfortable.

In both Afghanistan and Iraq I ate better than I ever do at any stateside MTF cafeteria (and some MTF cafeterias are quite good). In Iraq I lived in an old train station with all the modern conveniences (still a dump), and in Afghanistan it was various tents and plywood contraptions build by non-engineer Marines (the House That Escher Built). About 1/3 of those places had no air conditioning in living quarters but work areas did have it.
 
pgg said:
Living conditions range from plywood dormitories to metal shipping-container-rooms to existing buildings we've taken over to (occasionally) tents. Virtually everywhere a physician might go these days has air conditioning, hot water, and food that ranges from OK to excellent. If you bring your own internet as I did, and pretend you're not stuck in a dirty hole 8000 miles from home as I tried to, it can be very comfortable.

In both Afghanistan and Iraq I ate better than I ever do at any stateside MTF cafeteria (and some MTF cafeterias are quite good). In Iraq I lived in an old train station with all the modern conveniences (still a dump), and in Afghanistan it was various tents and plywood contraptions build by non-engineer Marines (the House That Escher Built). About 1/3 of those places had no air conditioning in living quarters but work areas did have it.
Click to expand...


Where you in Al Qaim by chance?
 
I was wondering the same thing - great base!
 
pgg said:
Living conditions range from plywood dormitories to metal shipping-container-rooms to existing buildings we've taken over to (occasionally) tents. Virtually everywhere a physician might go these days has air conditioning, hot water, and food that ranges from OK to excellent. If you bring your own internet as I did, and pretend you're not stuck in a dirty hole 8000 miles from home as I tried to, it can be very comfortable.

In both Afghanistan and Iraq I ate better than I ever do at any stateside MTF cafeteria (and some MTF cafeterias are quite good). In Iraq I lived in an old train station with all the modern conveniences (still a dump), and in Afghanistan it was various tents and plywood contraptions build by non-engineer Marines (the House That Escher Built). About 1/3 of those places had no air conditioning in living quarters but work areas did have it.
Click to expand...

How do you bring your own Internet? That would be a nice luxury to have in a combat zone.
 
dru2002 said:
Where you in Al Qaim by chance?
Click to expand...

Yes. Late 2005 to early 2006.

TopSecret said:
How do you bring your own Internet? That would be a nice luxury to have in a combat zone.
Click to expand...

http://www.bentley-walker.com/

We used a Star Pro system off an Australian satellite in Afghanistan and a Star Com system off (I think) some Italian satellite in Iraq.

Back then you could get a sat modem & 2-way dish for about $2500-3000. Service started around $300/month for non-dedicated bandwidth, I think the base package was 10:1 with 384 down 128 up. I admin'd the morale network for the battalion in Afghanistan & Iraq ... kept me busy. DHL delivered everything to Bagram the first time around for a $900 shipping charge; for Iraq we slipped the dish in a quadcon and hand carried the rest of the network hardware. Anyone who wanted to could contribute $15-20/month to get an ethernet drop to their quarters and connect their personal laptops. Eventually we were up to a 1 mbps dedicated connection which cost about $4000/month. With good bandwidth policies and throttling you could get a decent dialup-quality email/web experience even though 80 or 100 people might be on during peak hours. Uptime was OK ... maybe 80-90% ... and the whole thing sometimes had to be shut down for a few days for comm blackouts.

There were a lot of these privately run networks in both countries, I'm assuming there still are.
 
pgg said:
http://www.bentley-walker.com/

We used a Star Pro system off an Australian satellite in Afghanistan and a Star Com system off (I think) some Italian satellite in Iraq.

Back then you could get a sat modem & 2-way dish for about $2500-3000. Service started around $300/month for non-dedicated bandwidth, I think the base package was 10:1 with 384 down 128 up. I admin'd the morale network for the battalion in Afghanistan & Iraq ... kept me busy. DHL delivered everything to Bagram the first time around for a $900 shipping charge; for Iraq we slipped the dish in a quadcon and hand carried the rest of the network hardware. Anyone who wanted to could contribute $15-20/month to get an ethernet drop to their quarters and connect their personal laptops. Eventually we were up to a 1 mbps dedicated connection which cost about $4000/month. With good bandwidth policies and throttling you could get a decent dialup-quality email/web experience even though 80 or 100 people might be on during peak hours. Uptime was OK ... maybe 80-90% ... and the whole thing sometimes had to be shut down for a few days for comm blackouts.

There were a lot of these privately run networks in both countries, I'm assuming there still are.
Click to expand...

That's great. Can you actually bring your own laptop or netbook?
 
pgg said:
Living conditions range from plywood dormitories to metal shipping-container-rooms to existing buildings we've taken over to (occasionally) tents. Virtually everywhere a physician might go these days has air conditioning, hot water, and food that ranges from OK to excellent. If you bring your own internet as I did, and pretend you're not stuck in a dirty hole 8000 miles from home as I tried to, it can be very comfortable.

In both Afghanistan and Iraq I ate better than I ever do at any stateside MTF cafeteria (and some MTF cafeterias are quite good). In Iraq I lived in an old train station with all the modern conveniences (still a dump), and in Afghanistan it was various tents and plywood contraptions build by non-engineer Marines (the House That Escher Built). About 1/3 of those places had no air conditioning in living quarters but work areas did have it.
Click to expand...

Air conditioning - no. Hot water - no. Food - MRE's. Hand washing stations - no. Private living space - no. There are still plenty of physicians deployed without amenities.
 
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pgg said:
Yes. Late 2005 to early 2006.
Click to expand...

I had the joy of being their to see the transition to the base it is today (2003-2004). When we arrived we were still eating MREs, a few months in transitioned to A-rats and for the final month the DFAC was finally done being built. The DFAC had the best food I have had from a cafeteria in my life. The aid station was pretty nice for deployment too. It was also nice to have a FRSS and an STP co-located with the aid station (not to mention Dustoff). Didn't have that my second deployment and hoping that a patient stays stable for a 30 min helicopter ride to a surgeon is beyond nerve racking.
 
rogershru2 said:
Air conditioning - no. Hot water - no. Food - MRE's. Hand washing stations - no. Private living space - no. There are still plenty of physicians deployed without amenities.
Click to expand...

They are the exception these days. Practically any place a physician might go will have all of those things. Those in GMO billets might be somewhat more likely to live and work in more austere condtions, but both countries are mature theaters now with good infrastructure.

You're more likely to wind up someplace with a Pizza Hut, Burger King, massage parlor, Haji-bazaar, and live DJs for "Salsa Night" than an MRE-only outpost with no AC and no hot water. (Not that any of those things make deployments easy or fun.)
 
pgg said:
They are the exception these days. Practically any place a physician might go will have all of those things. Those in GMO billets might be somewhat more likely to live and work in more austere condtions, but both countries are mature theaters now with good infrastructure.

You're more likely to wind up someplace with a Pizza Hut, Burger King, massage parlor, Haji-bazaar, and live DJs for "Salsa Night" than an MRE-only outpost with no AC and no hot water. (Not that any of those things make deployments easy or fun.)
Click to expand...


HA!!! I guess it depends on what service you deploy with. Iraq has those things, Afghanistan does not for most of it unless you're at one of the few large bases.
 
Are deployments shorter if you volunteer to be deployed?
 
I haven't searched around although i'm sure it's answered somewhere, but since everyones asking questions here i thought i would too.

Before 9-11, where and how often did Army doc's deploy? I'm just trying to get an idea of what they do during peace time, what the lifestyle is like.


For Navy doc's that are attendings, what are the odd's you'll be stationed on a ship as an attending? It seems like there would be a ton of attendings and not too many shipboard spots for them, leaving most at hospitals.

Any info's appreciated.
 
NoMoreAMCAS said:
For Navy doc's that are attendings, what are the odd's you'll be stationed on a ship as an attending? It seems like there would be a ton of attendings and not too many shipboard spots for them, leaving most at hospitals.

Any info's appreciated.
Click to expand...

Physicians tend to be on the larger ships. Carriers, Amphibs, Tenders. They do tend to be sought after, so if you don't want one, you won't get one.
 
TopSecret said:
Are deployments shorter if you volunteer to be deployed?
Click to expand...

Sometimes, but don't count on it.

Virtually everybody's going to get their time in Iraq or Afghanistan, so volunteering to deploy usually isn't going to get you any more brownie points than if you volunteered to do the PRT.

But I do know a handful of people who were given a choice that amounted to "deploy now or deploy later" where the near deployment was ~4 months of humanitarian work on one of the hospital ships, and the later deployment was ~7 months in the desert. None of those people were junior grunts the likes of you or me though - all O5 & O6 types who'd had previous deployments, hardship tours, or 18 years of something.
 
pgg said:
Sometimes, but don't count on it.

Virtually everybody's going to get their time in Iraq or Afghanistan, so volunteering to deploy usually isn't going to get you any more brownie points than if you volunteered to do the PRT.

But I do know a handful of people who were given a choice that amounted to "deploy now or deploy later" where the near deployment was ~4 months of humanitarian work on one of the hospital ships, and the later deployment was ~7 months in the desert. None of those people were junior grunts the likes of you or me though - all O5 & O6 types who'd had previous deployments, hardship tours, or 18 years of something.
Click to expand...

Andy Baldwin, the Navy doc on The Bachelor, hasn't been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan yet and he was recently promoted to O4. But he did go on a humanitarian mission in Nicaragua.

http://docbaldwin.blogspot.com/
 
TopSecret said:
Andy Baldwin, the Navy doc on The Bachelor, hasn't been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan yet and he was recently promoted to O4. But he did go on a humanitarian mission in Nicaragua.

http://docbaldwin.blogspot.com/
Click to expand...

and Bill Gates is a college dropout that made millions, just because one fluke happened, don't expect the same results for yourself.

i want out(of IRR)
 
i want out said:
and Bill Gates is a college dropout that made millions, just because one fluke happened, don't expect the same results for yourself.


Agreed - a board certified surgeon has 99% chance they will be deployed during their payback/career, but no longer than 6 months so they can maintain their skills. Board certified primary care physicians will be deployed if they stay in very long, either to a ship or given orders to the Marines - where they may deploy for 6-12 months at least once.
Click to expand...
 
rogershru2 said:
Agreed - a board certified surgeon has 99% chance they will be deployed during their payback/career, but no longer than 6 months so they can maintain their skills. Board certified primary care physicians will be deployed if they stay in very long, either to a ship or given orders to the Marines - where they may deploy for 6-12 months at least once.
Click to expand...

Twelve months with the Marines seems like a long time, especially in Afghanistan. Have the Marines transitioned to the new scalable plate carrier body armor yet? It's supposed to be lighter and less confining than the modular tactical vest.
 
TopSecret said:
Twelve months with the Marines seems like a long time, especially in Afghanistan. Have the Marines transitioned to the new scalable plate carrier body armor yet? It's supposed to be lighter and less confining than the modular tactical vest.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no. The Marines are the last to get everything. But it has been two years since I was with division so I really have no idea.
 
This is a silly question but can a doc in the army do a humanitarian mission aboard the US comfort or does one have to be in the Navy? I assume you have to be in the Navy in order to serve on the US comfort. After reading Andy Baldwin's blog http://docbaldwin.blogspot.com/ the Navy sounds very enticing!
 
EMTB2MD said:
This is a silly question but can a doc in the army do a humanitarian mission aboard the US comfort or does one have to be in the Navy? I assume you have to be in the Navy in order to serve on the US comfort. After reading Andy Baldwin's blog http://docbaldwin.blogspot.com/ the Navy sounds very enticing!
Click to expand...

If you think that medicine in the navy is like that blog, then you're as gullible as I was. I joined to be a part of this very type of thing. The reality is the closest thing you're likely to get is seeing commercials for navy medicine about the mercy on AFN while deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. That's the reality. If you're lucky you might get one chance like that after 10 years of practice. (unless you were the bachelor and are good publicity for navy medicine like this guy)
 
rogershru2 said:
If you think that medicine in the navy is like that blog, then you're as gullible as I was. I joined to be a part of this very type of thing. The reality is the closest thing you're likely to get is seeing commercials for navy medicine about the mercy on AFN while deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. That's the reality. If you're lucky you might get one chance like that after 10 years of practice. (unless you were the bachelor and are good publicity for navy medicine like this guy)
Click to expand...

Seriously that guy is the poster boy for the Navy. Great for military medicine recruiting. If I get into Navy at USUHS, I don't think my future agenda will be that similar.
 
dru2002 said:
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no. The Marines are the last to get everything. But it has been two years since I was with division so I really have no idea.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Marines are the only ones interested in this. They want less fragmentation protection in exchange for more comfort and mobility. The mountains in Afghanistan were considered too difficult to climb with their bulky armor. I think they still get to keep their MTV's, though, for when they need to travel by vehicle down IED-laden roads.
 
pgg said:
Yes. Late 2005 to early 2006.



http://www.bentley-walker.com/

We used a Star Pro system off an Australian satellite in Afghanistan and a Star Com system off (I think) some Italian satellite in Iraq.

Back then you could get a sat modem & 2-way dish for about $2500-3000. Service started around $300/month for non-dedicated bandwidth, I think the base package was 10:1 with 384 down 128 up. I admin'd the morale network for the battalion in Afghanistan & Iraq ... kept me busy. DHL delivered everything to Bagram the first time around for a $900 shipping charge; for Iraq we slipped the dish in a quadcon and hand carried the rest of the network hardware. Anyone who wanted to could contribute $15-20/month to get an ethernet drop to their quarters and connect their personal laptops. Eventually we were up to a 1 mbps dedicated connection which cost about $4000/month. With good bandwidth policies and throttling you could get a decent dialup-quality email/web experience even though 80 or 100 people might be on during peak hours. Uptime was OK ... maybe 80-90% ... and the whole thing sometimes had to be shut down for a few days for comm blackouts.

There were a lot of these privately run networks in both countries, I'm assuming there still are.
Click to expand...

Does this mean that in order to get internet in Afghanistan or Iraq you, personally, have to pay $3k for a special dish and $300/month + $900 for delivery? Or was this the cost of setup for a communal network that everyone uses? In other words was this the cost of setting up a wifi hotspot for military personal to use, or the individual cost/person?
 
that's just if you want your own internet (personal) which was divided up between people to defray the cost. Otherwise you can wait in line to use the computers that the military has set up for personal use on base (i assume time limits are in place for everyone to get a fair shake).

I remember reading a while back that a Radiologist set up his own connection and was scanning films in his ample downtime and pulling in serious bucks.
 
xmsr3 said:
Does this mean that in order to get internet in Afghanistan or Iraq you, personally, have to pay $3k for a special dish and $300/month + $900 for delivery? Or was this the cost of setup for a communal network that everyone uses? In other words was this the cost of setting up a wifi hotspot for military personal to use, or the individual cost/person?
Click to expand...

It was a communal network. Everyone who used it paid a portion. Once the hardware was installed individual cost was in the $20/month range.

Many advantages over the free military-run cafes ... access 24/7 in your living quarters with no time limits, a faster connection, the ability to connect your own personal laptop to the network, and no content filters (though things like streaming media were limited for bandwidth reasons).
 
My fiance has pretty much settled on Psychiatry for residency. Now, it'll be a lot of assuming, because she won't be done for a little less than 5 years from now, but what kind of deployments do people that go into Psych tend to get? I don't imagine there's a lot of need for acute psych care in the field. Maybe some place more long term, like Germany, Japan, Korea type of thing, or is she likely to stay in the states?
 
daveyjwin said:
My fiance has pretty much settled on Psychiatry for residency. Now, it'll be a lot of assuming, because she won't be done for a little less than 5 years from now, but what kind of deployments do people that go into Psych tend to get? I don't imagine there's a lot of need for acute psych care in the field. Maybe some place more long term, like Germany, Japan, Korea type of thing, or is she likely to stay in the states?
Click to expand...


Not true. Psych people get deployed to combat zones like anybody else. There is a huge need for acute psych care in the medium sized bases, and they move out from there. Some will be deployed to places like Germany, but many will be in Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever the war zone is when she is finished. Our regimental psychiatrist is now nearing the end of a 12 month tour to Afghanistan, spending much of the time on the road between battalions. That is at least true for Navy, I can't speak much for Army or Air Force.
 
rogershru2 said:
Not true. Psych people get deployed to combat zones like anybody else. There is a huge need for acute psych care in the medium sized bases, and they move out from there. Some will be deployed to places like Germany, but many will be in Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever the war zone is when she is finished. Our regimental psychiatrist is now nearing the end of a 12 month tour to Afghanistan, spending much of the time on the road between battalions. That is at least true for Navy, I can't speak much for Army or Air Force.
Click to expand...

Both Army and AF have combat stress teams. These are often headed by Psychiatrists. To assume mental health is not forward is erroneous.
 
I'm an air force psychiatrist currently deployed at a FOB in Afghanistan and there are 7 other AF psychiatrists spread across both Iraq and Afghanistan. We are all deployed with the army. There are currently no deployments to Germany, Korea or the other places you mentioned for psychiatrists, those are all called PCS's.
 
Not that I would choose a specialty because of deployments...I am pretty set on FM...but I am curious about OBGYN and Peds. Are they utilized in forward locations? I wouldnt imagine there is much use for their specialty but I guess they could be used for general purposes.
 
teacherman84 said:
Not that I would choose a specialty because of deployments...I am pretty set on FM...but I am curious about OBGYN and Peds. Are they utilized in forward locations? I wouldnt imagine there is much use for their specialty but I guess they could be used for general purposes.
Click to expand...

ask our friendly pediatrician caveman how the sand feels under his boots
 
TheGoose said:
ask our friendly pediatrician caveman how the sand feels under his boots
Click to expand...

True...I guess it seems like the docs in my mom's clinic, AF peds, never go anywhere unless they PCS, but the FM docs and surgeons are always deploying.

Are all AF going for 6 months now? They had been 4 months in the past...
Any other branches increasing length of tours?
 
AF08 said:
I'm an air force psychiatrist currently deployed at a FOB in Afghanistan and there are 7 other AF psychiatrists spread across both Iraq and Afghanistan. We are all deployed with the army. There are currently no deployments to Germany, Korea or the other places you mentioned for psychiatrists, those are all called PCS's.
Click to expand...

I figure psychiatrists would be needed in Afghanistan and Iraq for treating PTSD. Is prazosin still being used off-label for PTSD?
 
TopSecret said:
I figure psychiatrists would be needed in Afghanistan and Iraq for treating PTSD. Is prazosin still being used off-label for PTSD?
Click to expand...

Yes and in my experience it tends to work just as well if not better than most other forms of treatment for the nightmares and hyperarousal symptoms associated with PTSD. It is also very well tolerated.
 
AF08 said:
Yes and in my experience it tends to work just as well if not better than most other forms of treatment for the nightmares and hyperarousal symptoms associated with PTSD. It is also very well tolerated.
Click to expand...

Are there any studies on PTSD prevention (other than avoidance of trauma)?

I would imagine that the military would be interested in such research. Maybe field administered magnesium injections (magnesium is a physiologic NMDA blocker that may reduce the activity of the amygdala and possibly reduce excitotoxicity-induced hearing loss) following trauma would help. The NIH is already funding a clinical trial called FAST-MAG to ascertain whether field administered magnesium is neuroprotective following a stroke, so I figure it could also be done in a military setting since the incidence of TBI is fairly high.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8135325
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/23/5/529S
http://www.fastmag.info/
 
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