an exercise in patience

Trying to get this page to open on my laptop has been quite an exercise, but a blog post is needed.

I've responded to everyone's comment on the last post so I won't go over that material twice. They are still working on the internet out here. Anyone with enough motivation could stand to make some money if they could figure out how to make this work, look-up USComz. Anyway, since the last posting I've been staying busy and safe as usual, but now I get to add injured to the list. It didn't happen on a mission or anything, it's just age catching up to me. I've always had bad knees and it seems that they are getting worse. I was working on a trailer this past Saturday and just went to stand up to lend a hand. I was standing and turning at the same time and when I put weight on my right knee it popped and it seems I have a partially torn meniscus now. For those not familiar it is a tendon in the knee and apparently is fairly painful when pulled. There is nothing that can be done for it out here because it requires surgery to fix. Normally this is the kind of injury that would get a person sent home but our company is short handed and can't afford to loose anyone else at this point, even an injured person can do some work.

Yesterday I went in for a follow-up and they tried to drain the fluid off of the knee cap. I say tried because in order for it to be successful the patient needs to remain motionless. I did not. I've never had a needle that large in my knee before and it was a very unpleasant sensation. I'm on an anti-inflammatory and a fairly large pain killer to help deal with it but I won't be able to get it fixed until we return to the states. They also gave me a cortisone shot which didn't hurt nearly as bad as when they tried to drain it, and that seems to be helping a great deal. I can walk on the leg, but not well. I was on crutches for a few days but they say it will heal better if I try to walk on it as much as I can. For now I'm off of the road while it heels. I'm working in the base tire shop which is run by our company.

I'm not the only one with knee injuries right now so I've been getting some good advice on how to handle it and I'm confident that I'll be able to make a full recovery once I am home in El Paso, in the meantime I have to live with it. Luckily we are nearing the end of our tour, the countdown has begun. With any luck I'll pickup my E4, specialist rank, in October and that will feel good. I was close to getting it for September but I didn't have much time to study.

I'm working days for now, so as with the last entry that means I need to wrap this up so I can get some sleep. I'm trying to check my e-mail at jesse.c.pahman@us.army.mil as much as I can, but that site is also hard to load. I'll be home soon, and I look forward to sharing the experiences I've collected along this tour. I hope that you don't find I have changed too much, but I know that I have. Know that at some point I may snap for no good reason at all and that whoever or whatever it was I snapped at, it probably wasn't provoked. It happened once on R&R and I've seen a good deal more since then. I'm learning some Arabic as well and I will share what I know when we all get to meet again in person.

Until then, take care and know that despite how it may sound I am doing very well.

PFC. Pahman, Jesse C.
United States Army
Camp Taji, Iraq

An exercise in patience

Trying to get this page to open on my laptop has been quite an exercise, but a blog post is needed.

I've responded to everyone's comment on the last post so I won't go over that material twice. They are still working on the internet out here. Anyone with enough motivation could stand to make some money if they could figure out how to make this work, look-up USComz. Anyway, since the last posting I've been staying busy and safe as usual, but now I get to add injured to the list. It didn't happen on a mission or anything, it's just age catching up to me. I've always had bad knees and it seems that they are getting worse. I was working on a trailer this past Saturday and just went to stand up to lend a hand. I was standing and turning at the same time and when I put weight on my right knee it popped and it seems I have a partially torn meniscus now. For those not familiar it is a tendon in the knee and apparently is fairly painful when pulled. There is nothing that can be done for it out here because it requires surgery to fix. Normally this is the kind of injury that would get a person sent home but our company is short handed and can't afford to loose anyone else at this point, even an injured person can do some work.

Yesterday I went in for a follow-up and they tried to drain the fluid off of the knee cap. I say tried because in order for it to be successful the patient needs to remain motionless. I did not. I've never had a needle that large in my knee before and it was a very unpleasant sensation. I'm on an anti-inflammatory and a fairly large pain killer to help deal with it but I won't be able to get it fixed until we return to the states. They also gave me a cortisone shot which didn't hurt nearly as bad as when they tried to drain it, and that seems to be helping a great deal. I can walk on the leg, but not well. I was on crutches for a few days but they say it will heal better if I try to walk on it as much as I can. For now I'm off of the road while it heels. I'm working in the base tire shop which is run by our company.

I'm not the only one with knee injuries right now so I've been getting some good advice on how to handle it and I'm confident that I'll be able to make a full recovery once I am home in El Paso, in the meantime I have to live with it. Luckily we are nearing the end of our tour, the countdown has begun. With any luck I'll pickup my E4, specialist rank, in October and that will feel good. I was close to getting it for September but I didn't have much time to study.

I'm working days for now, so as with the last entry that means I need to wrap this up so I can get some sleep. I'm trying to check my e-mail at jesse.c.pahman@us.army.mil as much as I can, but that site is also hard to load. I'll be home soon, and I look forward to sharing the experiences I've collected along this tour. I hope that you don't find I have changed too much, but I know that I have. Know that at some point I may snap for no good reason at all and that whoever or whatever it was I snapped at, it probably wasn't provoked. It happened once on R&R and I've seen a good deal more since then. I'm learning some Arabic as well and I will share what I know when we all get to meet again in person.

Until then, take care and know that despite how it may sound I am doing very well.

PFC. Pahman, Jesse C.
United States Army
Camp Taji, Iraq

First blog post since R&R?!?

Can this really be my first posting since R&R? My blogger dashboard says it is but it doesn't feel right. In any event, I have been very busy the past few months, keeping my truck running and working towards that next promotion. I've been eligible for Specialist since May but unfortunately it's a big company and there are a lot of PFC's eligible for Specialist. I'm in line somewhere and by November I'll pick it up automatically anyway so I'm not stressing about getting it sooner anymore, if I do I do, if not, oh well.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel of this tour, we're looking at just over 3 months left. Naturally I cannot and will not post a return date on the web, but the end is near. I've seen far more of Iraq than I ever planned too and now that I'm wrapping up the tour, I can see myself doing it again. I'm not looking forward to it, but now that I know what to expect and what is required of me, I'm not worried about another tour or two; heck it's the cool thing to have 3 or 4 tours these days.

The weather has gotten very hot and looks to stay this way until at least the end of August. I still don't know much about when we'll be allowed to take block leave so that we can visit Michigan but expect me to be very bundled up, I've gotten accustomed to it being in the 90's all night and 110-130 during the day. It looks like I may finally be getting internet in my room in Taji. I am on the internet on my own laptop right now but I have to go outside to get a signal. They are in the process of running hard lines to all of the CHU's (container housing units) and the process should be done soon. When that happens I should be able to get online much like I was in VBC.

I don't have much time yet today before work so I'll wrap this up. I tend to get out after 1am my time which is 7 hours ahead for those of you on the east coast. I'm not always online, and the internet isn't always available, they seem to be working bugs out of the system yet, but when I can I will be online and looking for friends and family to chat with.

PFC. Pahman, Jesse C.
United States Army
Camp Taji, Iraq