Ha Ha. I have a funny story......

Greetings. I have returned from the field. And do I a story for y'all. BUT first...... let me tell you about the field.

The FTX (field training exercise) was supposed to orient us (the OBC class) to what we will encounter as medical officers in the real field (ie. IRAQ). We learned how to assemble, and disassemble field radios and telephones, the M9 9mm pistol, the M16 and how to load and unload patients into a 996/997/998 HUMVEE ambulances. We also did land navigation (find a 5 foot stick after being given an 8 digit grid coordinate in the Texas "woods"), and a 3 mile road march with weapon.
By far, my most favorite event was the weapons. We zeroed the M16 rifle and qualified with the M9. I have fired the M16 before, so that was no big deal; although it was the best I have ever shot. I had a six rounds in area of about a dime; center mass. The M9 was a new thing for me. I have never fired a side arm before. It's a whole other world of shooting. You have to do what they call Kentucky windage, where you adjust your fire error by aiming opposite. So say your shot is low and left, aim your weapon up and to the right to get your rounds center mass. Since we were using pop up targets it was hard to tell where I was shooting (other than too low.... I could see the dirt popping up). I qualified in the end. I think I shot 18 or so out of 30, but they recorded 23/30. I'll take it. I think I may buy a 9mm sooner or later so that I can stay proficient. M9/9mm qualifications is one of those things that no matter what you do, as an officer you have to qualify.
To end the FTX, after all the tents were cleared and the equipment and weapons were cleaned and turned in, we did combatives. If I haven't talked about combatives before, all they are is hand to hand combat moves/techniques. The parts that we focus on here are ones that occur once you close the distance and you and the enemy are rolling on the ground trying to choke eachother out. They are fun, but rough. So this is where my funny story comes in.

Funny story. The other day I was doing combatives. ("Really?" you ask)
Yeah, we broke up in platoons while waiting for the busses after the FTX. At first we ran through the drills. Then we did 3 minute drills. 3 min drills are where you and a partner "fight" at "combat speed" for 3 minutes trying to get the other to either tap out through submission moves or choke outs. While we did these 3 min drills the instructors were picking out the 4 best males and 2 best females in the platoon to compete for the best in the platoon. Then the best in the platoon would enter a bracket between the 4 platoons for "company bad ass" status. I was chosen as one of the 4 best in my platoon (much to my suprise).
WELL...........
I was sizing up my "enemy" and when they said go we both lunged at eachother. All I remember is smashing my face into something hard and finding myself lying on my back grabbing my nose thinking it was broken.... BUT NO BLOOD. Weird?! NAH... my nose wasn't broken. BUT HOLY SH**... does my shoulder hurt. I just lying there...cluthing my shoulder.
That's right.... I dislocated my Left Shoulder. All the way out. Funny huh? 2 hours before I leave the FTX after all that training and I end up in the ER..... AGAIN!!!
I have never been in a hospital (other than working) in my entire 24 years of life, but I end up there 2 times in a matter of a month. San Antonio has it in for me, I'm convinced.
I was discharged after about 4 hours of sleeping/waiting for xrays to come back. Good times at the hospital. I kept apologizing to the nursing staff for my smell cuz I hadn't showered in 5 days, and I had finished a 3 mile road march, cleaning, and combatives. I was RIPE. In any case, they found no significant damage; for as much as an xray shows. I am fine other than some muscle pain, but I have Ibuprofen for that.

That's my funny story. It's not really funny-HAHA, it's more funny-twisted.

In other news, I have my River Walk pictures up on the yahoo thing now. Check'em out. Here's the link again. Enjoy them. They are nice. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cremirun/my_photos

Feel free to leave comments for me to read. All you have to do is click the comments link at the bottom of the post and click on post comments. That's how I can keep in touch with you all. It's nice for me to leave this stuff for you to keep track of y'all, but if you don't write back once in a while, I will be out of touch; and that's no fun.

The count down is on. 2 weeks (March 18) until graduation. 3 weeks (March 25) until I'm done with OBC.

Till then... Out.