Construction is complete!

1LT Courtney Merkler deserves a spot in my blog today.  She was formally the XO (executive officer) in C Company - which is my company - and helped CPT Bluemle out with many things prior to and during deployment.  Her job changed when she got deployed and now she works with all the contracts here at the FOB.  It's a big job and from what I can tell, she executes it perfectly.  And she's a very honest and hard-working, straight-forward, down-to-earth person.

I say all that because due to all of her hard work and coordination, we now have a deck space with a tin roof available to us for storage and for "extra" clinic space.  Cory (the behavioral healthcare provider here) would sometimes take his patients outside between the clinic and building I live in (houses a few officer rooms) where there was an old couch to sit and talk.  In some cases they had more privacy there to discuss important patient issues than in his own "clinic."  A thin layer of plywood separates our clinics so you can often hear what someone is saying, even if you are not trying to listen.  And now that space is so much more habitable...thanks to the Merk.  Sure we all endured a few days of hammers, saws, and uncertainty about a few electrical cords...but no one died.  Sure a nail may have penetrated my flip flop as I was heading to the shower building...but it didn't pierce my skin.

[Side note: see Facebook for a few construction photos. I will try adding a few more pictures of the finished product in the next few days.  I meant to post photos here, but with the slow internet it works best for me to post in one place...so I'm just using Facebook for now.]

I also received a huge shelf today from the chaplain.  He and I visited the other day for awhile when he'd brought someone in to see behavioral health.  I wonder if it was the 2 overflowing shelves in the clinic that gave it away, but he asked if I could use another one.  I gave him rough dimensions and he came in today with a freshly-made, 8ft tall wooden shelf.  It was a miracle!

I also started running outside again...just making extra sure to avoid the burn pit area (something is ALWAYS on fire there).  So far my cough hasn't gotten worse.  I still do faster runs on the treadmill though since it's rocky outside.  The other day as I was running by our small firing range, some of the military police were out there practicing.  I didn't know it yet because there were some barriers blocking my view - you would have laughed so hard to see how high I jumped when I heard shots fired!  It took me a second to realize that it was coming from the range.  But it's worth the trouble to run outside a few days a week - otherwise I wouldn't get much sunlight at all.  And I'm like a flower, besides smelling good and being gorgeous, I get my energy from the sunshine and wither with too much darkness.  Even in Afghanistan, I long to be outdoors :)

Hope everyone else is doing well across America!  I miss you, and you, and you, and you...and you too of course.