"What we do"

WHAT WE DO
Name: RN Clara Hart
Posting date: 3/22/10
Stationed in: a civilian military hospital in the U.S.
Milblog: From Our Perspective

I held the hand of a dying warrior who fought death. Flown to us from the battlefield he was gravely wounded, with no chance of survival. His family, at his side every step of the way, elected to fulfill his wishes of being an organ donor. As loved ones gathered at his bedside saying final goodbyes, the OR and organ procurement team readied the operating room and started the process of organ compatibility.

No eye was dry in the ICU as he was wheeled from the room and down the hallway toward his final
surgery. In organ donation at our hospital the family has the option of going into the OR to be with the patient until they take their last breath. His family elected not to do so. After being placed gently on the operating table he was disconnected from the ventilator and life sustaining medications were turned off. The wait had begun.

Just as the “golden hour” in trauma dictates that for maximum recovery the trauma patient should receive care within an hour of injury, there is a “golden hour” in organ donation. Only it should be called "the black hour," as it is the darkest of all hours. Once totally disconnected, the patient has an hour to die before the organs become unusable.

Our fine warrior, so valiant in his career, who fought so hard in life, continued to fight in death. Disconnected, he started to breathe on his own. Sixty minutes never felt so long as we watched his agonal breathing become stronger. When we reached the end of that blackest hour we gazed at each other, once again in tears, hardly able to bear what we knew came next.

This family who had already said goodbye once must now say goodbye again...

I have only one thing to say: Go and read the rest of this one here.. Then thank God for such dedicated nurses who walk these journeys with our warriors and their families.

H/T Thunder Run

PM Netanyahu

Israel news photo: file

No Change on Jerusalem Policy Despite US Pressure

by Maayana Miskin

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office said Friday that Israel will not change its policy vis-a-vis Jerusalem despite United States pressure. Netanyahu returned Thursday from a round of meetings in the US during which he was asked to restrict the construction of housing for Jews in parts of the capital city. Right wing MK's and groups are making efforts to show Netanyahu that mainstream Israel is with him on this issue.

Most Israeli mainstream media, however, described the meetings as a failure. The US hoped to talk Netanyahu into making major concessions to the Palestinian Authority, but Netanyahu refused to concede and said he would discuss the matter with his mini-Cabinet of seven senior ministers.

The prime minister is to meet with the seven ministers on Friday to discuss the outcome of his talk with Obama, and to submit America's demands for their consideration.

Obama pushed Netanyahu to agree to extend the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, to release hundreds of terrorists affiliated with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah organization, and to deny Jews the right to build in parts of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian control between the years 1948 and 1967.

Obama Criticized over 'US-Engineered Deadlock'
Obama's attempt to win Israeli concessions was criticized in America as well as in Israel. The Washington Post published an editorial this week terming the deadlock between Israel and the PA as “a US-engineered deadlock.”...

You know there is more, here.

[Interesting op/ed over at the Beeb:

Israel remains defiant amid allies' growing anger

Tim Franks BBC News, Jerusalem

As relations between Britain and Israel continue to unravel, in Jerusalem many Israelis feel that the outside world still fails to understand the problems - and threats - their country is facing.

Uzi Arad is a very important man. He's now the director of Israel's National Security Council, and National Security Adviser to the prime minister - a position he's held since Benjamin Netanyahu took office.

Uzi Arad's cordial relationship with Britain's MI6 is no longer

Uzi Arad has a reputation for fighting fiercely and territorially among the sharp edges that exist at the height of the Israeli power pyramid.

He was always hospitable whenever I, on occasion, used to visit him at home - before he took up his current job.

He'd spent more than 20 years in Mossad - Israel's secret intelligence service, and before he was appointed one of its directors, he was stationed for a time in London.

Once, at his house, he took me into his expansive library. He reached onto a shelf and extracted a book called Mandarin - the memoirs of the British diplomat Sir Nicholas Henderson...

Read the rest here.]

B*N*S*N1

Photo Credit: Pfc. Amy M. Lane.

Tired dogs rest beside their handlers after returning to the classroom after a long day of training at Fort Hood, Texas, March 10. The 85th Medical Detachment, 1st Medical Brigade, is learning to work with therapeutic dogs in anticipation of their upcoming deployment to Iraq.

Stress dogs can be a Soldier's best friend

Mar 22, 2010

By Pfc. Amy M. Lane

FORT HOOD, Texas -- It can be difficult for some Soldiers to open up after a traumatizing event, or even if they are having problems at home while they are overseas. But the 85th Medical Detachment, 1st Medical Brigade, a combat stress control unit, is learning to work with some very unique ice breakers.

The 85th Soldiers, who are deploying to Iraq at the end of the month, have been training all week with four therapeutic dogs. The dogs are bred, trained and donated to the Army by America's VetDogs.

Stress control dogs can help Soldiers open up and start conversation flowing, said 1st Lt. Camille Betito, the executive officer for the 85th, whether they come into the clinic seeking help, or they're just out walking around the compound and someone approaches the animal.

"We're there for you if you need someone to talk to," Betito said. "The dogs can help people feel more at ease to start talking. Or sometimes just playing fetch or taking a few minutes to pet a dog can be a real comfort and morale booster when you're far away from your loved ones."

Betito said the animals are well loved by their handlers, and they even are assigned a rank, which helps humanize them.

Two representatives from America's VetDogs, Lisa Harvey and Valerie Kramer, came from New York to spend the week teaching Soldiers to work with the dogs. They brought four dogs with them, because the dogs the 85th will be working with are already in Iraq.

The Soldiers learned about the special gear the dogs wear, including: "Mutt Muffs", hearing protection made for dogs, "Doggles", their eye protection, and the boots that protect the dogs' feet from the desert sand....

Go read the rest of this B*N*S*N story here.

B*N*S*N2

First Presidio chairwoman opened doors for other female language instructors

Mar 24, 2010

By Al Macks, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs

Story Highlights

• In 1947, Ann Arpajolu became the first woman instructor at the Army Language School
• In the 1970s, Ann Arpajolu made history as the first department chairwoman
• In 2010, there were about 550 women instructors and 600 servicewomen attending DLIFLC

Photo credit Courtesy photo


In 1947, Ann Arpajolu became the first woman instructor at the Army Language School. In the 1970s, Ann Arpajolu made history as the first department chairwoman. In 2010, there were about 550 women instructors and 600 servicewomen attending DLIFLC.

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- March is recognized as a time to reflect on the roles women have played in history and the contributions they have made to societies in the United States and the world.

Among notable women who are remembered at the Presidio is the late Ann Arpajolu, who in September 1947 was the first woman to be hired as an instructor at the Army Language School, forerunner of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.

When Arpajolu was selected chairwoman of the Greek Department in the early 1970s, she made history at the institute as the first woman to attain the position of department chairperson. The author of influential textbooks on the teaching of Greek language, Arpajolu retired in 1973.

In contrast to 1947, at the end of the first decade in the 21st century, DLIFLC employed about 550 women instructors. About 600 servicewomen were assigned to DLIFLC as students.

According to the National Women's History Project Web site, such an extraordinary number attests to the tireless work of thousands of women and men, organizations and institutions in establishing Women's History Month as an annual celebration.

When Women's History Month was first celebrated in the early 1980s, the topic of women's history was mostly limited to college curricula, the site says. Juxtapose that to 2010 with a Google search using the words "women's + history + month," which results in more than 40 million citations. As the saying goes: You've come a long way, baby.

It has been estimated that less than 3 percent of the content of teacher-training textbooks available at that time mentioned the contributions of women, according to the site, which also says that when they were mentioned, women's contributions were often relegated to mere footnotes. And, the contributions of women of color and women in fields such as mathematics, science and art were seldom discussed.

Celebrating Women's History Month is a step toward correcting the historical record and drawing attention to viable female role models. (source)

B*N*S*N3

03/15/2010 - U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Bobbi Johnson shows students from Sapang Bato Elementary School how to use a communications radio at a static display on the flight line of Clark Air Base, Philippines, March 15, 2010. The students are visiting as part of an Armed Forces of the Philippines community outreach program being conducted for Balikatan 2010, a bilateral training exercise and humanitarian assistance program between the U.S. and Philippine militaries. (DoD photo by Lance Cpl. Claudia M. Palacios, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)

03/20/2010 - Senior Airman Kahliha Love checks the vital signs of a Chilean child at the expeditionary hospital March 20, 2010, in Angol, Chile. About 60 medical Airmen are working alongside local Chilean medics to provide support to meet the daily medical needs of the 110,000 people in the region. The local hospital in Angol was deemed structurally unsound after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake Feb. 27, 2010. Airman Love is an aerospace medical technician assigned to the 81st Medical Operating Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Tiffany Trojca)

B*N*S*N4

Royal Welsh uncover large stashes of Taliban IEDs

A Military Operations news article

23 Mar 10

In two operations just a week apart soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh have uncovered some of the largest quantities of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and IED components found in Afghanistan to date.

Soldiers of B Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, with the cache of IEDs and IED components found in Nad 'Ali
[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

In Nad 'Ali, central Helmand, where Operation MOSHTARAK has been taking place, the Royal Welsh soldiers discovered 260 IEDs, 38 detonators, and 57 weapons ranging from anti-tank mines and rocket-propelled grenades to AK47 machine guns and grenades.

Eight kilogrammes of homemade explosives were found hidden underneath piles of dry poppy and fertiliser sacks containing approximately 165 IED components, which had the potential to make hundreds of IEDs.

The troops from A Company and B Company made the find as they were flushing out insurgents from their areas of operations.

As the Royal Welsh soldiers from B Company got close to the enemy positions they came under a barrage of small arms fire. Taking cover where they could, the troops quickly set about identifying the enemy's firing positions. When they were unable to do so they called in the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

These UAVs have proved to be an invaluable resource for British and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops on the ground throughout the Afghan campaign.

Lance Corporal Zack O'Brien takes a closer look at the cache of improvised explosive devices found by Royal Welsh soldiers
[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

Four men were also soon detected acting suspiciously by some compounds, south of where the soldiers were located.

The troops moved rapidly to positions closer to the compound. The gunmen had disappeared and Lance Corporal Zack O'Brien and Fusilier Stephen Handley conducted a methodical search of the compounds and uncovered the cache of weapons, IEDs and their components.

Just days before, A Company had pushed forward without resistance to a compound near the bazaar in central Nad 'Ali....

For more on this great B*N*S*N story, go here.

Pray for Gabe

Bulletin from Chuck:

The vet today gave the worst news ever....Gabe has a cancer tumor....he goes to surgery in the next week.....please pray for my boy, my world would be turned upside down if I lost my best friend...

Gabe is set for surgery on 1st April. He is an absolute hero to so many, (including many of our own furbabies.) Please pray to whatever Higher Power you believe in, for both Gabe and Chuck.




We all love you, Gabe, and we all have faith. (And bratdog sends you a special slurp, with love.)