Aeromedical evacuation

[LadyDoc]

LD, you should know this at your age:

It's not the size that counts, it's how long he stays in the field.

or something like that...

BWAHHHH!

[LadyDoc]

I was thinking and reading a little more about the AF needing MD's thing. Part of me was thinking - beyond the fact that I'm not a good enough physical specimen to enlist - what do they do with a pediatrician in a war zone?

I found this article series, and this particular article about how many children they treat at Kandahar. http://hamptonroads.com/2011/07/chan...est-casualties

They even had a pediatric intensivist there for awhile. It's tough stuff - don't look at the video or photos unless you're used to open wounds and blood.

To be honest -- I had a hard enough time during my mandatory rotations in PICU, without doing this in a war zone. It was fascinating - but emotionally draining. My emotional walls just aren't high enough to do that day in and day out - which is why I never chose to do a fellowship in PICU. I have also read elsewhere that sometimes if you are deployed and they don't have a role for your specialty, they put you in charge of triage or taking care of the "expectant" patients. Again, my walls are not high enough for that. I'm just not a good enough compartmentalizer, and I am mature enough to know that about myself. I "can" do the job --- but the aftermath a year later wouldn't be pretty.

I do admire the hell out of people that can do that though. Thus, the reason for my original post.

[Ops NCO]

To be honest -- I had a hard enough time during my mandatory rotations in PICU, without doing this in a war zone. It was fascinating - but emotionally draining. My emotional walls just aren't high enough to do that day in and day out - which is why I never chose to do a fellowship in PICU.

That can be a challenge for people who work in mental health with children (which is where I got my start). When training new employees, I always told them that we have to walk a fine line. You have to care enough to want to help them, but not too much or you lose perspective and it kills you when they don't get better. At the place I work at now, we even teach a course during orientation about "boundaries".

[Mortarman11c]

Hell we're all Gods children....some of us are just bigger and hairer than the little ones......Docs is Docs....Come on in the water is fine!

[LadyDoc]

Love ya, Al! LOL - you have more confidence in my abilities than I do.

I think a Will Rogers quote belongs here.

"We can't all be heroes -- because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."

I've soul-searched, and resigned myself to being the curb-clapper.

[Hendo]

I got evac'd back in '09 with my whole appendix mess thing and the only thing I remember is getting put on the plane. I woke up four or five days later in Walter Reed in the ICU after going from Bagram Airfield to Landstuhl to the airbase near DC. I had a PE that they found by accident while doing a CAT scan on top of all the other stuff going on. Good thing I finally got to some folks that knew what they were doing. I don't care to mention HOW I got to them but I'm dealing with it.

[GERONIMO]

LadyDoc you really don't know what you can do until you have to do it. The weakness in standing to one side and saying "I CAN'T". I have seen the so called strong that were weak and the weak that would stand up and amaise you. NEVER SAY CAINT. AIRBORNE! GERONIMO!!

[prairiesheepdog]

LadyDoc, I've spent a lot of time hanging around ERs and I can tell that your heart and mind are in the right place. I've always liked the grumpy docs anyway. I knew I could trust what they say.

[NinjaKiwi]

Had a classmate in Nursing school who started out as a Flight Medic, then Flight Nurse after graduation. She always said it got hairy sometimes but she wouldn't give it up for any other job in the AF!
Gotta admire that!