I have never been good at writing things down in a journal, or keeping a good literary log of what I have done, where I have been, where I am at, what I'm doing but I figure this is a good place to start. I don't really have a bunch of people in my life to share my story with, and as far as I can figure this is a good a place as any to just put it out there right? I mean, hey, this will, even if only partially, have the same effect right? Anyway, I am pretty excited about this so I hope that some of you all read along, and like what you read!
My name is Adam Avinger, I am 28 years old and married with two beautiful, wonderful children. At the moment I am living in Louisiana and attending Louisiana State University in Shreveport, where I am studying for my undergraduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology (sounds terribly interesting right!). If I were still 17, and someone told me that the last two sentences would be a great introduction to my life in 11 years I would have probably laughed uncontrollably. Because, as all young men know everything, that's the LAST place I was headed. Since that fictional day I have served in both the United States Navy as well as the United State Army. During my service to our country I have been deployed overseas 2 times. On my last deployment, I was serving as a line medic with the 855th Military Police Unit out of Phoenix, AZ. We spent a year in the Ninawa province of northern Iraq.
During my deployment in Iraq, my unit was pretty busy. We basically consisted of 4 different Platoons, two and half of which actually went on missions that left the FOB (Forward Operating Base) which is just a military term for a "base". When I was not on missions that took me "outside the wire" or "off base", I would usually volunteer my free time to work and train with the Combat Support Hospital or "CSH" which is commonly referred to as a "Cash", that was located in the adjacent FOB we will call "Rattlesnake".
So, being that I was a medic, I was fortunate enough to have my hand in saving a life once or twice, which, until that point in my life, I had never experienced. I remember being in the "Cash" one very quiet day, which had been preceded by a very quiet week, and myself and the three or four others in there were met with a convoy bringing in six combat casualties resulting from an SVBIED, commonly pronounced as "S" "V" "BID" and stands for Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device. No call in advance, no Standard Operating Procedures followed, just "holy crap, we got hurt guys, gotta get em in fast." So being met with a mass casualty situation is a crazy experience, and with in a relatively short period of time, doctors, surgeons, and nurses showed up and began to help. Some guys died that day, some guys lived. "Mark" the troop I was helping with survived. It was then and there that I figured out that being a surgeon in an OR was exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
This, in a very fast forward nature, brings us all the to "here and now". I will be posting every Friday about stories from my past, and experiences, all of which shaped the man I am today. I will try to bring my readers to know and understand who I was, who I am today, and who I am trying to become.
Also, every Sunday I will post about things that are going on in the present tense version of my life, as well as upcoming events, stresses, thoughts, feelings, circumstances, the whole gambit of things someone like me goes through during this journey.
Thanks for reading this quasi-lengthy abstract. If you like it so far, feel free to follow as I will be posting as mentioned above.
Until Sunday!
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