Love design!!! I just came across your blog and wanted to say that Ive really...While My Qatar Gently Weeps
Posted by Erik Rupard on May 15th, 2008
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.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Greetings from Al Ruhpardh-on-the-Souhndh. I keep finding things about you that I only suspected. You have turned down a trip to the Persian Gulf. Although I can appreciate your reasons for doing so, I can’t help but think I would have liked to have taken the trip. I went to Tokyo on R & R and I do recall what a hassel it was to get there. Once there, though, it was fun for a 19 y/o kid. And remember that I met my brother, Kaye, there and we stayed at the Imperial Hotel (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and beautiful). Lots of fun things to do in Japan, and no one was trying to do us bodily harm. We had a spectacular time. I’m off today with Wade to PA and hope to get the old deck taken down on Sat. Will return with Wade (who is on an engineering project in Middletown) on Monday and Mom and I will return to build the deck on Wed. Glad all is going well with you. We miss you. We will get the Skype up and running soon. Be careful…it’s dangerous out there.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Frank Lloyd Wright is my hero dad; I’m so envious.
Erik doesn’t yet realize that our next home will be of the craftsman variety.
I should probably keep him apprised of these things
May 16th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Mom, being the less daring parent, agrees with you. I think you have plenty of time to travel when (to quote Gracie) you are not at a war. I just returned from taking a meal to a family who is moving and taking Becky and Caroline to the mall to buy flip flops, without which they could not be seen at the dance at the school tonight. It’s cold, rainy and dreary. I am hopeful that Wade and Dad are not stuck in NY traffic. Will hit the hay early and shop for plants tomorrow since I don’t have Dad here to restrain me. Gotta make sure those deer get their greens. Love you, son. Mom R.