Never Ending Job

Army and Navy Medical Team working together at Camp Victory, Kuwait

The job that I do, Biomedical Engineer is a never ending job. There is never a time where I can just spend time catching up on things because there is always work to do. 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. That schedule is starting to wear me out and Jcid, my co-worker, is showing serious signs of burn-out. Even though our leadership has called for giving us 1 1/2 days off a week, we take the initiative to keep working and answer troublecalls on our days off. Unfortunately for us, every piece of medical equipment is detrimental to the mission. My hobby of fixing things has become my job and now I take little pleasure in fixing stuff. Funny, I thought that people should aim to work at what they take pleasure of doing. Hmm... food for thought.

Today, I checked the shelves at the PX and to my surprise, the shelf was full of action packed games! SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals, Grand Theft Auto Libery City, Lord of the Rings: Tactics, and the ever-so-popular, Need for Speed. SWEET. I'm sure that they will all be gone by the close of business.

Line of Medievac Humvees

Morale Calls Home
I do my best to call home once a day. It is quite challenging because Japan is six hours ahead of us and while Soco is home, I am working. Although not authorized to make personal calls during working hours, I put my wife first and I stop everything I do and make a phone call near the end of closing time. And after that, I catch up on more work that has piled up since then. I can't wait to go back home!

Morale is improving as our tour is coming to a close. Seabees have already switched out with their new crew and I'll be awaiting for my replacement, Advanced BMET from Naval Medical Center San Diego.

Prado being refueled directly from the truck

If you ever come to Kuwait, you may be lucky to drive a Prado. The government leases these wonderful 4-wheel drive SUVs and they are sooth off-road! My fastest muddy desert off-road speed to date: 65 kph. A strange phenomenon is that it has two fuel tanks. I found out about this when the fuel tank went from 3/4 tank to full while I was driving on the freeway. Everybody falls in love with this vehicle. As Chief Haggad calls them, "Prado Affectionados".