We have a new provider in the clinic, a Physician’s assistant (PA) named CPT Hall. CPT Hall specializes in orthopedics, which is great because I prefer seeing the sick people rather than the achy back, knees, ankles, shoulders, etc. Having been on my own for the past two weeks as the only doc in the busiest clinic on Al Asad, it was really nice to have someone else who can see patients, taking a bit of the pressure off.

This afternoon, our company commander called me to thank me for handling the extra load for the past couple of weeks, and to offer me a trip to Qatar for a four-day R and R. Qatar is a small country which extends out from the eastern edge of Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf. There is an area there where deployed personnel can go on leave, and visit museums, the beach, and some shopping areas. A few of my medics have been there, and they all liked it a lot.

I thanked CPT Allen for the kind offer, but respectfully declined. First, traveling is one of the least safe activities one can do in theater, and I know that any extracurricular travel would create a whole lot of worry among them. But I have a more selfish reason for not wanting to go anywhere.

If you think traveling by air at home is a hassle, imagine having to go to the airport six hours ahead of your flight, haul all your own luggage yourself (not just around the airport, but actually onto and off of the plane), and sitting on a hammock for the whole flight, while wearing fifty pounds of protective gear. And if your flight doesn’t actually leave because of sand, wind or other issues, you get to stay at the airport, sometimes for days, and wait for the next flight out. And let me tell you, the airports on military bases in Iraq, do NOT have a Starbucks, or a Cinnabon. The Al Asad airport is a pretty sparse affair, having nothing but a few benches and some makeshift offices for the workers there.

I have been a homebody for just about all of my life. I think that somewhere between the fifth and the tenth time I slept over at a friend’s house when I was a kid, I came to the realization that I greatly prefer sleeping in my own bed, with my head on my own pillow. Rightly or not, my little ten-by-twenty-foot tupperware container here on Al Asad has become my home-sweet-home for the moment, and I have to admit, it is pretty cozy. Occasionally, someone will walk by when the door is open, and they’ll see the pictures on my walls, and the carpets I have laid out, the five (yes, five) pillows on my bed, and the general neatness of the place, and they’ll tell me that I am lucky to have the nicest can in the projects.

To which I can only agree.