Well, my fellow 211th members and I have been through a lot over these past couple of months. Blood, Sweat and Tears...most of us have experienced 2 out of the 3 at some point during our time together...but yesterday we hit the triple. Bloody Sunday I think would be an appropriate thing to call it. It was I.V. stick day.
Now, having been with this group for a while, I've learned that I can trust them. (well, most of them!) They've pulled me into a second story window, yanked me to my feet when I'd fallen and couldn't get up (some of this equipment is crazy heavy!) I've seen them clear rooms, hurl grenades and fire machine guns with the greatest of ease, but somehow putting my very small veins in their medically untrained hands didn't seem so appealing.
It was an unspoken thing but as I glanced around the room at the faces of my team mates I could see the look of doubt in their eyes. I think they were doing the same thing as I...coming up with a whole new assessment of each other. Wondering who to put their trust in... Instead of the usual criteria soldiers tend to judge each other by (the strongest, fastest, smartest, etc.) a whole different evaluation was happening. We were thinking back trying to remember who hadn't winced at the bloody power point slides, didn't make vomiting sounds when the demonstrator got his IV, and most importantly, who stayed awake in class. I.V. stick day is definitely not for the faint of heart. The partner picked for this exercise became just one step short of a blood brother...that's a lot of bonding to be volunteered for.
I got pretty lucky because I got SGT Zoeller for my partner. He may have blown my vein but he has really soft and clean hands. (and I got him back!) So all in all, the Combat Life Saving Course was just another notch in the 211ths belt. Can't wait to see what new adventures the future holds.
ljh
out
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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