Gospel Bluenotes Bring the Spirit to COB Adder

They couldn't of come at a better time.  It was between Christmas & New Years, December 27, 2010 to be exact, and people's spirits were getting kind of low.  Most of the soldiers were thinking of their families and friends that they weren't go to see this year.   Nobody really expected salvation but salvation did arrive and it came from the most unlikely source. Another entertainment group called "THE GOSPELL BLUENOTES" was going to be performing that night and they were going to be joined by a group of soldiers who sing at church services here at Adder.  I am embarrassed to...

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See the latest pictures!

Major Marty and Physician Assistants, Susan Harcke and Vijay Soprey receive their 'Combat Patches' in a ceremony held in front of the assembled brigade. Colonel Lisa Costanza is seen placing patches on their right shoulders. ...

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Happy Holidays!

This is almost my entire Medical Staff. To my right are my two physician assistants: Susan Harcke and Vijay Soprey. Next (in sunglasses) is captain Gabriel Fabian, the Commander of the unit. All the others are medics: Sean, Annmarie, Erika, Nolan, and Glenn. Several others are missing from the pictu...

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USO Show Brings Heavy Metal Band to COB Adder

I don't believe I've ever seen a live Heavy Metal concert and I never considered that to be a loss or something I'd go out of my way to check out.  But when the USO brings entertainment to you on a deployment you'd have to be a complete geek to avoid it.  You have no idea how boring it can be out here.  We work practically seven days/week and unless you're on a mission you never go outside the wire.  There is absoulutely no alcohol allowed, including beer, even when your off duty and officially you're always on duty even when you sleep.  So it's hard not to go when you hear that a rather big name is coming to your...

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Pictures from Latest Mission

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In a season of firsts, I celebrate my first Hanukkah in Iraq

One of the ways the military gets you through your deployment is by keeping you very busy. They have to keep you busy because if you had idle time that might create mischief and of course that's the last thing you want to have because it would divert you from your mission. The week is organized so that all the days blend into each other and there really is no difference between the weekdays and very little difference between the weekdays and the weekend. In fact all the military offices are open 7 days a week. I recognize that I may of lost you there but even though this is considered a war zone we do have different offices. For example, we...

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Army home grown Ultimate Fighters bring out huge crowd at Adder 'fight night'

I wasn't surprised when I heard soldiers saying that fight night brings out a bigger crowd than at any other event.  I know quite well that young males and females love to go to a whole variety of different types of martial arts.  I've attended WWF/WWE wrestling events with my kids and big groups of their friends.  We've also attended many of the amateur boxing events held in Western Massachusetts most of which I'd be the officiating ringside physician. I never attended any of the Ultimate Fighting events that have recently become so popular and feature both very little in the way of rules and the fighters are allowed to fight...

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