Learning to Trust

It's movie night again in Kandahar, Afghanistan...or just outside the city anyway.  I decided to go old school and watch "Independence Day."  One of my favorite movies of the 90's.

So my replacement from 2BCT-2ID landed here Wednesday morning.  What a sight for sore eyes!  Another physical therapist!  I had to give up my room for her and move to a tent, but the tent isn't so bad.  I'm only sharing the tent with 3 other females (and it's made for 10 people) so by Army standards I'm doing pretty well.  It's mostly quiet too since it's just for officers. (except when a bird lands - we are immediately adjacent to the landing zone - then it's more like a wind tunnel.

When one unit replaces another, it's called a "RIP-TOA."  I don't know what the whole thing stands for (relief in place...something-something-something).  It's really not important.  I've been given more RIP-TOA time than I actually need with my replacement, since as providers we're already trained to do our jobs.  It's just a matter of getting computer an account access to document patient notes.  I think all of the things the PT needed to do she was able to finish today.  I just have to see 2/4 patients for the remainder of my tour, which should cut my patient load by half.  It's a double-edged sword, it's not good to feel busy all the time, but too much free time makes the day creeeeeeeeeeeep by...

Tomorrow is Sunday - I'll probably clean the clinic one last time (show the new therapist how it's done!) and then knock out a long run.  It's been much cooler the last couple days because we had rain, but it's going to start getting very warm again tomorrow.  We'll see how the run goes, I get red every time I'm outside more than an hour!  On the bright side - no rain means no muddy shoes.  I set out on an evening run the other day and there was one section of gravel that appeared dry...but as I ran through it my feet sunk down (like quicksand) and my shoes were toast!

The "countdown paper chain" I made is getting pretty short.