Ill @ MindSay

By Army Sgt. Daniel Love

Special to American Forces Press Service

 

July 15, 2008 - On a warm morning in early June, a worried Abdullah Haqim walked with his daughter into the weekly coalition medical clinic in Afghanistan's Farah province. Six-year-old Gulzana was sick, and local Afghan doctors could not diagnose or treat the painful swelling that had engulfed her left eye. The father watched with a worried expression as a U.S. special operations forces doctor examined the tumor that covered her eye. He was worried because insurgents in the area had warned him that coalition doctors would not help his daughter and may even hurt her.

 

"This wasn't the type of thing we could treat at the weekly clinic," the doctor said. "Most of our patients here require more basic assistance. Her case required advanced medical care as quickly as we could provide it, so we had to start making plans right away if we were to have a chance of saving her."

 

Gulzana had an orbital tumor growing from her eye that was expanding to her cheek and eyebrow. In a developing country such as Afghanistan, a child with such an affliction has an extremely low chance of survival. Soon after the American doctor looked at her, he began coordinating life-saving plans.

 

"We saw this as a case where we could make a difference in a child's life, so we had to act," the doctor said. "It took some effort, but we arranged for Gulzana and her father to arrive here around the same time as Col. David Holck, one of the Air Force's two best optical surgeons."

 

On the morning of July 7, Holck began his trek here from Baghdad by way of military resupply flights. Holck is chairman of ophthalmology at Wilford Hall Medical Center, at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Throughout the same day, Gulzana and her father travelled 14 hours on a bus to Bagram to meet with the doctor.

 

Haqim, carrying a makeshift travel bag made from a bed sheet, finally met the doctor who would save his daughter's life. Medics changed Gulzana's bandages, and she received a teddy bear from adoring U.S. troops. She shied away from the attention.

 

The next day, Holck and other coalition doctors scanned Gulzana's head to gauge the size and location of the tumor. Like most children, she didn't seem to like being in the hospital, but she was patient and allowed the medical staff at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital here to examine her and plan the required surgery. The tumor had spread from her retina to other parts of her eye, but had not yet affected her skull or brain.

 

"Based on her scan, we could see that the situation was a little better than we had hoped for," Holck said. "You can't beat the positive outcome of something like this; all we have to do is our job, but we also get the opportunity to make a difference in a child's life."

 

The following day, Gulzana was on an operating table, surrounded by Air Force and Army doctors. The operation lasted two hours, but when it was finished, she looked like a new child. The tumor was gone, and her eyelid could close. She woke up with bandages on her face and with her happy father holding her hand.

 

Gulzana and her father will temporarily live here as she recovers. Her smile warms the hearts of the servicemembers who monitor her recovery, and the worried look on her father's face is gone.

 

"Her mother is gone, and she has had enough pain in her life," Haqim said. "I'm happy that the Americans showed so much care for her and that she is getting better. Before, we were so worried, but now everything has changed and she will have a chance to grow up and be happy."

 

(Army Sgt. Daniel Love serves in the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Public Affairs Office.)

Well, as you know I got to meet my grandma on my dad's side last Saturday. It went really really well. Me and my grandma got lost finding it but we found it eventually. When we pulled up to the apartment building I saw this little old lady sitting outside with her walker. I knew it was her for a fact. I jumped up out of the car almost as if I had ants in my pants or something. I ran over to her and gave her a huge hug that lasted forever. This moment was long over due for me. We talked a little bit, and I went back to the car to grab her senior picture for her along with a prom picture of me. We get inside her apartment and of course my grandma started getting teary eyed. I wasnt I was just overwhelmed and excited. We sat down and I showed her my picture album of pictures of me growing up with my brother. After small talk she brought up my biological dad. I knew deep down it was going to happen sooner or later. I guess what he did after shit went down with my family went further with his mom, brother, and other neices and nephews.

I found out my dad is a psycho. Worse than Jackyll and Hyde. If he took his medication like he is suppose to you couldnt ask for a better guy. But of course he is ornry from what I heard. I found out he tryed commiting suicide a bunch of times in his life but never suceeded. I found out that at one point in his life he went outside completely naked, jumped in his car and drove around to this neighborhood, got out and asked people door to door if they had any sheep. I found out one time in my life the night he got kicked out of the house here, he left in a jacket in mid july with a vacuum hose and sat on the side of the road with it hooked up from his exhaust to his window with the car completely sealed and he was found by a stranger and they called 911. I found out my mom and dad were suppose to get married but he was way to psycho and he just didnt care about me nor my brother. I found out he is a hypochondriac who is addicted to prescribed drugs from the doctors. I found out he didnt care that my grandpa Tom died back in 2006 due to lung cancer and kidney failure. I found out he threw major temper tantrums as in destroying the house if my grandpa Tom didnt have the kind of coffee he wanted. I also found out he slit his wrists open in front of my cousins when they were little. He did a bunch of other stuff too but im keeping that confidential.

When we got to my cousin's graduation party and after I met them for the first time in my life, my uncle greg started talking about my dad. You could tell the more he talked about him the more he got angered and did things alot quicker. when I found out about the things he did I felt ashamed of myself for the fact that I came from him. I cant believe my mom actually slept with him to get me. I have a feeling she was extra desperate at the time. The information is still slowly sinking in. I cry every now and then about it but I quickly get over it because its nothing to fret about really. Im just thankful that I did not inherit his sickness. If I ever had a thought in my head about what he probably had, I would either shoot myself or get help immediately. I dont ever want to turn out like him. I feel ashamed enough to hear that I have his eyes, smile, height, and nose. Pretty much everything. Everybody tells me I look like my mom but the more I look at this one picture of him, im pretty much the girl version of him all over again. Physically that is, not mentally. He is currently the last person on earth I want to meet. In fact I never want to meet him in my life. To think that his problem is, is that he is so smart that he is insane. He was on the honor roll back in high school and he always landed great jobs from what I heard. But that was his problem, he was way too smart. I also learned he does have the money to pay for child support, he just doesnt do it. He got kicked out of Minnesota and also kicked out of Florida but he went back to Florida anyways.

When I got home that night all I could do is cry about everything. I was happy but sad at the same time. It was a mixture of emotions at the time. Thinking about it now just tears me up inside knowing he was a psycho. Still is as far as everybody knows. Nobody has contact with him and if he is to ever set foot into somebody's house on my dad's side or my side even, the cops are to be called. Nobody wants anything to do with him. Cant blame them either. Im one of them. If I had to pick between trusting Charles Manson or him I would trust charles manson alot more. Ide feel alot more comfortable if he was my dad rather than Mike being my dad to be honest. I guess I can honestly say that I am the seed of chucky, but im the nicer one and not the psycho.

Music: Have A Nice Day - Bon Jovi
Mood: =__=.

There's a virus goin' around.

And I felt like I was gonna burn to death at work today.

GREAT.

Date:  November 13-24, 2008

Location: Las Vegas, NV

 

Top leaders and key decision-makers of major companies representing a broad range of industries will meet with distinguished scientists, public health officials, law enforcement personnel, first responders, and other experts to discuss pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at the 7th International Bird Flu Summit.

 

At the summit, attendees will be able to draw on first-hand best practices to create the solid business continuity plans that their companies and organizations need in order to prepare for, respond to, and survive a pandemic.

 

The summit draws on the success of the six previous summits which featured as speakers several distinguished personalities such as Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, Alex Thiermann of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and Dr. Wenqing Zhang of the WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response.

 

Well-known emergency responders, heads of hospitals from around the world, and poultry industry leaders also spoke in previous summits. Included in this list are Adolfo García-Sastre of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, John Thompson of the National Sheriff’s Association, Prof. Oleg I. Kiselev of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Anna Thorson of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, Vice President of Food Safety and Quality for Perdue Farms.

 

Topics Include:

Country Report & Situations Update

Surveillance and Data Management

Preparing Communities Strategies; Local Partnership and Participation

Delivery of Vaccine and Antiviral Medication

National Pandemic Influenza Medical Countermeasure

Socio Economic Impact on Poultry Industry

Benefit-risk Assessment: Public Health, Industry and Regulatory Perspectives

Prevention Education Efforts and Risk Communication

Command, Control and Management

Emergency Response Management

Business-Based Planning

School-Based Planning 

Community-Based Planning

 

More Information

http://www.new-fields.com/birdflu7/index.php

 

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

 

May 1, 2008 - The Defense Department is working to reduce stress on the force and improve quality of life for the troops, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told soldiers at the Army Sergeants Major Academy here today. As part of that effort, Gates asked the senior leaders' help in getting troops who need it to seek combat-related mental health care.

 

"Our country, in recent years, has asked a tremendous amount of you and those who serve with and under you, and everyone has risen to the occasion," Gates told the senior noncommissioned officers, all attending the Army's top NCO school and bound for sergeant major and command sergeant major jobs in the force.

 

He conceded that "no one expected major combat operations in Iraq to go on this long" and cited the challenges: "multiple and sometimes extended deployments, the stresses of battle, the wounds of war, both seen and unseen."

 

"All of this has taken its toll on our troops and their families," Gates said. Yet, he noted, morale remains high, "testimony to the extraordinary honor, courage and resilience of those who serve, as well as the leadership and mentoring provided by the senior NCO corps."

 

But that high morale can't be taken for granted, Gates said. "I know I am preaching to the choir when I tell you that, as senior leaders, we must all be ever cognizant of stress on the force -- stress that has been greatly increased in recent years," he said.

 

Gates outlined measures being taken to reduce that stress and improve soldiers' quality of life.

 

Combat deployments are being reduced from 15 to 12 months in light of changes on the ground and gains made. Gates expressed hope that conditions on the ground will enable force levels in Iraq to reduce further by the year's end. A more sustainable deployment rotation will be adopted within the next year or so, with the active force serving two years at home after every one year overseas.

 

"From my perspective, we are trying to strike a balance: to reduce the tempo of deployment without compromising our strategic objectives or national security," Gates said.

 

The United States is growing its ground forces and will add 7,000 troops to the Army as part of a five-year, 65,000-troop expansion. The Marine Corps is getting larger too and will complete its 27,000-member expansion next year, two years ahead of schedule.

 

"With a larger pool of soldiers and forces available, individual soldiers and their units should be deployed less frequently, with more dwell time at home," Gates said.

 

The secretary cited vast improvements in emergency care on the front lines and in the Army medical system. Since last year's revelations of what he called "deplorable outpatient conditions" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Gates said, he has focused a lot of time and energy on the system of care for wounded warriors.

 

"We have made great strides, even though more remains to be done," he said.

 

New warriors-in-transition campuses are revolutionizing the way wounded warriors are getting medical treatment and rehabilitation, he said. With an NCO with them throughout the process, wounded troops get help navigating the full range of support available for their families.

 

Gone are the days, Gates said, when wounded warriors are considered "permanently broken."

 

"The reality is that these extraordinary young men and women are far from broken," he said.

 

The Defense Department also is emphasizing care for troops with post-traumatic stress disorder, Gates told the NCOs, but he admitted that not all are getting the treatment they need.

 

In addition to new screening procedures that will help ensure no one "slips through the cracks" of the care system, the department is actively working to eliminate the stigma associated with PTSD, he said.

 

As part of that effort, Gates announced earlier today that the Defense Department will no longer require people who have received treatment for combat-related stress to report it on Standard Form 86, the government security-clearance form.

 

"Mental health treatment in and of itself will not be a reason to revoke or deny a clearance," Gates told the soldiers. "We hope this will encourage more men and women in uniform to seek help."

 

Gates called on the NCOs, the "backbone of the military," for help in getting soldiers who may have hesitated in the past to step forward to now get the care they need.

 

"All of you have a special role in encouraging troops to seek help for the unseen scars of war -- to let them know that doing so is a sign of strength and maturity," Gates told the group. "I urge you all to talk with those below you to find out where we can continue to improve.

 

"Those who have sacrificed for our nation deserve the best care they can get," he continued. "As I have said before, there is no higher priority for the Department of Defense, after the war itself, than caring for our wounded warriors."