St Patrick's Day in Kandahar

Kandahar, Afghanistan


Pepperoni pizza, "Kandahar Style"

To celebrate St. Patrick's day, a large group of us splurged on pizza and beer.  That's NA beer, natch!  The next beer I have will be many moons from now.  But in a pinch, an ice cold Beck's NA and a good imagination can get you close.

Pizzeria Mamma Mia is one of the restaurants on the boardwalk.  Wow, reading the words "restaurant" and "boardwalk" in the same sentence makes it seem like we're in Cape May, NJ or something.  It's not that good, trust me, but it is amazing that there is a pizza joint and a TGIF (motto on the door - "Where every day is Friday."  Had to chuckle at that - every day is "a day.") within 200 yards from our barracks.

Hockey rink on the boardwalk

Enclosed within the boardwalk, which is arranged as a big square, is a non-ice hockey rink, basketball courts, and a dusty "quad" good for rugby or soccer.  At night it is a hub.  Twice I have seen two men fighting with what looks like a dungeons and dragon sword and mace set.  If they wind up in our hospital ER I will not be amused.  But it does give the whole boardwalk area a festive appearance and you can almost imagine you are not in a war zone.  Until you pinch yourself and realize everyone is in cammies and is carrying weapons.

Trauma bay at ROLE 3

We are in the last stages of getting our turnovers from the folks that will soon be leaving.  The ones leaving are truly giddy, most of them.  They begin shipping out this weekend.  I start my first "call" tomorrow, in the ICU.  I will be "Q2" or in Navy-speak, "port-starboard."  That means I am in the ICU 24 hours, do turnover in the morning with Corey, my running mate from Norfolk, then I take the reins 24 hours later.  We are supposed to get another intensivist in late April at which point we can go to Q3.  If nothing else, Q2 will make time go by quicker I believe, though it will add to the "groundhog day" mentality.

Hang Ten! (?)