The Big Move

Hey everybody…

I am really sorry I haven’t gotten to post in a long time.  I have been very busy, but now that I have had time to settle down and relax, I figured I would tell you all about what has been going on!

After we finished clinicals back in April, I started my internship in the PACU, which stands for the post anethesia care unit.  Basically, we would get patients straight out of the OR that were still doped up or in a lot of pain and what not.  I had a lot of fun working here and learned a ton.  Because some patients were put to sleep for surgery, there were some that couldn’t breath very well, so I got to through tubes down their noses all sorts of cool stuff.  We even had one guy who blew some sticthes on his abdomen and his intestines started to fall out… I wasn’t his nurse but you had better believe I ran over to watch!!

During that time I took the National Board Test to get my certificate for LVN.  This test was really long and extremely hard… I walked out sure that I had failed.  But I found out two days later that I had passed.  After that, it was party after party until graduation which took place on the 4th of May, 2009.  Then on the sixth, the day that my leave started before I had to go to my next duty station, my friend/neighbor from TX, Kelley Miller, her dad and I started driving for Texas.  She lives 5 houses down from us in Katy… go figure lol.  So we started driving down the coast, going on a long hike through the redwood national forest, visiting the piers in downtown San Franscisco and then cutting across to the grand canyon.  Her dad is still trying to get me a CD of pictures that we took along the way, but when I get it, I will send it to everyone.

Being at home was very nice, and I had a blast taking time off to spend with Steven, Mom, and Dad.  Maria even came down for a couple of days to visit too.  It was nice to have everyone together again.  On the 27th of May, I left houston and drove the 10 hour drive to the corner of Texas; El Paso.  It is a border city with the city of Juarez, Mexico and is pretty much desert.  The past couple of days have been extremely hot… close to 105!  I am assigned to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center here on Ft. Bliss in El Paso.  In the hospital, I work on 9 East, which is a cardiac floor.  However, I am sometimes rotated to 9 West, which is the pediatric ward, whenever they are understaffed.  I love my job so far and the people I work with are awesome.

As for the city itself, I have been having a blast here in El Paso.  I found a couple of small lakes that I have gone fishing in a couple of times.  There is also the Elephant Butte which is a 250 mile long lake on the colorado river that is only two hours away.  A boat is almost necessary to do any good fishing with, so I just hiked around up there and did some sight seeing.  The hospital is located at the bottom of the Franklin Mountains, which are more like big and steep hills lol, but there are a good workout to have when you want to go jogging or even Mt. Biking.  The people here in el Paso are extremely nice, and 90% are mexicans, so I have had a lot of practice with my spanish.

Next week, First Sergant asked me to be an OC at a Mass Casualty Training Exercise!! This is huge; I have to walk around and let people who outrank me by a lot, like Majors and Sergant First Classes and stuff, that they are doing this wrong or doing this right!  I am nervous as all get out but very excited 1st SGT chose me to help out.  Other things that are coming up that I am really excited about are the WLC (Warrior Leadership Course)  I leave for that on the 13th of July this year… in a couple of weeks.  I know, I thought it was soon too, but better do it now when I got the opportunity.  This is kind of like a Patrol Leader course used in the scouts, but it is how to take care of newer soldiers and give commands etc. while on the combat field.  This is a required course for me to make Sergant, so I am glad I get to go.  In either September or March this next fiscal year, I am going to go to the Emergency Field Medical Badge Course, which is a very difficult and very respected award to get in the Army… It is kind of like getting Eagle in the scouts, but the EFMB is for medics in the Army.  Another school I am going to go to starts sometime in October or November, I think.  It is the air assault school, where we train how to repel out of helicopters and down mountains… kind of like in black hawk down!  I’ll try not to miss the rope.  Lastly is the actual start of college classes.  I am enrolling in a community college out here in the fall, so I can knock my pre-requisites out of the way so in 2 years, when I have to re-enlist, I can re-enlist for a program that will send me to school for two years to get my Bachelors in Science for Nursing… Registered Nurse (RN) basically.

I have a lot of things coming up and I am really excited for them to start.  Hope everyone is doing well and I will post more often to let you know how I am doing.  If ya want to, call my cell at 281-881-0084 to catch up or just send me a comment and I will email you back.

Love all,

Rob