Well, so far the trip has been ok. It was very long. After a week of training in Georgia, we left for Kuwait. That trip took 41 hours from barracks to tent. We spent a few days doing more training in Kuwait,then left for Iraq. We arrived in Baghdad a few hours later and moved into temporary billets. 
Tent city in Kuwait
Inside the tentNow we have switched to what we'll be staying in. It is pretty nice, especially for a war zone. I have a room with an attached shower and bathroom and one roommate. He is a general surgeon and seems like a pretty good guy, though he is leaving and getting replaced in the next month or so. It is very hot and dusty. So far we've topped out at a little over 120. Not much fun to be out in, I must say. At night it is pretty reasonable though. We are doing detainee ops as our mission, with about 15% American. So far the ones I have met seem ok. The vast majority of them are guys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, though we do have a few who are bad guys. One of my current patients blew himselfup trying to plant a roadside bomb, then tried to resist the troops who came to arrest him and got shot. He's going to make it though.
Loading the plane to fly to IraqThe food is good. I have no complaints yet, though I have been told the menu has little variety and you get tired of it after awhile. I will have to wait and see. I hope you are all doing well! 
Coffee kiosk at Camp Cropper
View from the banquet room
The three amigas! Ole!
Here is a map of Kuwait for those of you interested. I think Camp Buehring is near the Iraq border but I am not totally sure.
A few days ago, we unexpectedly lost our beloved cat Soledad. She was only 6 years old and had not shown any signs of being sick until we found her dead. This post is sort of a eulogy to her and therapeutic to me since she was my beloved pet and friend since she was a tiny kitten. I got her in July 2002 from a friend of a friend in Delaware. I remember going to pick her out from the litter of kittens and she was the most beautiful one and most active one of them all. When I took her home, I was not really sure what to do, so I wrapped her up in a towel and drove home with her squirming in my arms. It was my first month of residency (before the 80 hour work restriction) so I was exhausted from work but occasionally could not sleep at home because Sole liked to 'knead' on my head while I slept. She also liked to jump on the bed in the middle of the night! Somehow we both made it through!
She reigned over the house like a queen and had such a funny personality. She was always a loving cat but only on her terms. She loved you and sat on your lap and then once she was finished with you, there was no convincing her to stay. About 3 years later, she adopted a little sister, Navi, although it was a bit rough going at first. It was very obvious who the dominant cat was around the house though!
One of the things I loved about her was how much of a social cat she was. She would usually come to the door to greet me when I came home, or at least come to wherever I was doing something to keep me company. That was assuming, of course, that it didn't interrupt her nap/s. She found new and interesting places to curl up....the sofa, the chairs, the window sill, our new piece of Korean furniture by the window, our pillows, the sink, and on and on. She was also quite an athelete. Once she was walking along the balcony in our current house when we had just moved in and she lost her footing and dangled over the family room for a second, then recovered and sauntered off as if it had never happened. Cats!
She also loved Joe and didn't mind when he petted her a little too roughly. She would rub against him and played with him all the time. They had a great time together.
We are going to miss her very much and she will always have a special place in my heart. I suppose there was someone in heaven who needed a really awesome cat so I will try to be happy for her. Goodbye Soledad! We love you!
Look how I've grown in a year!
