Attack on the FOB

To my medic pals and all my friends and family,

I write about my experiences on my blog site, "Me in the Sandbox". They're funny little stories to tell my family and friends about living in Afghanistan. Today is not one of those days.

Here in the sandbox we all sit around and complain about being the paperwork Paramedics, but we live in a warzone. It's so easy to get complacent when documentation is more important then the activity and people around us. But the reality is we live in a warzone.

I had tried to prepare for the day of attack that I knew was coming. The Taliban has grown up and they're not the stupid farmers of yesterday. They have spent centuries persevering and surviving. As a FOB hopper, I had made it my mission to prepare for the day. With the blessing of the military (and sometimes their expertease) to prepare in event of an attack. On that fateful day, the military will be too busy fighting to save our ass. It's up to us to support them in any way that we can and take care of ourselves.

So on that day, we were awoken with an explosion and "Missile Attack". I was the only one in the bunker with my PPE on. The next explosion we got the truth...Ground Attack. There was 33 people in my bunker scared, crying, screaming. I held a shaking, crying man for about an hour- it was dark, I never saw his face. Plus there is nothing that points out your position like the chatter of nervous people, but stop them you must.

Care doesn't stop because your scared. In my case, I (along with my team) thought it was a drill for some hours until the buildings started burning. The first right thing I did was gather my support team in the bunker. No use being afraid alone (special thanks to my friends, and also Laura & Hayden) and since medics attract Firemen, Hazmat, Basics from back home and former military corpsman- you have a readymade team.There was explosions from grenades, missiles, constant gunfire that we watched flying overhead for hours. No vehicles riding around and almost non-existent yells from the fighters. But at one point, we did hear the Taliban talking as they went by our compound. I believe they were arguing the merits of coming through and decided against it. Most of the emergency team was in position to fight and die, unarmed as we were.

It was chilly when we went into the bunkers and it warmed quickly as the sun rose and the fires blazed on. The temperatures got to more than 100 degrees and people were risking their lives to cool off. My team made countless trips to the medic tent for cold water. At one point I was asked if people could return to their tents. It was a ground attack and safer locked in was their argument. Be prepared to answer all questions. You are the Doctor, The leader, the Mom and the Pop, the Counselor, the Friend... you do not break down. Keep your cool and your wits about you. My answer (we are all adults after all), was to direct them to stay out of sight and go slowly and quietly to their tents and once there to stay quiet and not jeapordized our safety. Only a handful left.

I can't give specifics of the wounded or the time or the place...there's rules you know- wink!

The after care was overwhelming. I had not slept for 24 hours when I finally when to bed. I was awakened soon after by a hysterical women who had seen an intruded, (Taliban) near the ladies room. I normally have the room in the medics tent, but I slept in the women tent expecting terror and fear from the Fobbetts for the days to come. I'm not a hero and I have no gun, so I called in the military. They searched and stood guard and remained on duty- our heroes. I was asked if the women was reliable. Probably not, but what if I'm wrong. It's happened before, ( see paragraph 5).

We're on MRE's. And life has changed. Too many of the Contractor saw things that would give most people nightmare's. They came face to face with the Taliban and witnessed horrors of the ones who came prepared to die for thir cause. We all get relaxed... but we are in a war zone.

The Taliban watches us to this day and we know it. We stay in after dark. We are on the buddy plan. We keep our PPE's close and we are are always vigilant.

You must always balance your life. Care for all and take a minute. Rest, and call your buddies, call other medics, call the docs, eat, drink water and always care for yourself first. I worked non-stop sleeping little for the first days and I probably talked to every member of the FOB, (many I checked on frequently). I cared for their battle wounds, scrapes, cuts, bug bites and listened to their experiences. I'm thankful the snakes did not take the Talibans side and stayed out of site. No one saw one nor was bitten. They told me their stories, their fears and always wanted reassurance that they were safe. How could I give that? I simply listened and then told of the plans I knew and of the heroes they were for surviving. I also reminded them that the Taliban, even gone, knew that we would be scared for many days to come. It is our job to support the FOB, fight and not let them win.

Not one person quit and went home and we are eating 2 hot meals a day. The FOB is rebuiding quickly. The people are amazing... heroes all.