Heating Up

Kandahar, Afghanistan


My colleague Jon and I sign a Quilt of Valor for one of our wounded Marines

Things seem to be heating up.  Yesterday the Taliban attacked one of our sister bases to the north, Bagram, an incident that has been widely reported in the news.  From what I understand, a contingent of Taliban insurgents attempted to get onto the main portion of the base.  Suicide bombers did manage to penetrate the outer perimeter, and there were small arms skirmishes leading to several enemy fatalities and a handful of coalition injuries.

Staff gather around the radiograph reading machine after the trauma victims have been scanned

You often run into old friends while downrange.   A few months ago, while calling the ICU in Bagram to inquire about a patient, I realized my medical school lab partner was on the other end of the line.  I hope to contact him today to fill me in on what really happened in Bagram with this attack.  The last time this kind of thing happened here in Kandahar was over a year ago.  During that three week period of increased threat, all hands had to wear full body armor.  I know it is the safe thing to do and the right thing to do, but I truly do not want to get into that situation.  My 0.6 mile walking commute to work will get much longer if that happens.

Is this the beginning of the Kandahar offensive?  Unlikely, given that Bagram is north of Kabul - which had its own devastating suicide bomb this past week, killing five US soldiers.  But business has been fairly steady of late.  We were greeted with three Alphas this morning - seriously wounded coalition forces.  They came in right at the time we typically do morning report and rounds, to discuss the overnight events and patient plans and dispositions.  More organized chaos, as patients went to and fro - CT scanner, OR, trauma bay.  It was ballroom dancing on stretcher-bearing rickshaws.

In the OR grafting a damaged artery

It is difficult to say much about the Kandahar offensive.  There are some that possess the "need to know," i.e. material not to be found in the news outlets, but I am not one of them.  Business around here always picks up in the summer months, so this could be just that.  Nonetheless, rarely does a day go by without one of the news outlets describing the "Kandahar offensive,"  which is "to start imminently."  For all I know, it has already started.