Climbing wall.

I have decided that this is the best deployment I have ever done. Today, I ventured down to the climbing wall that was erected by a couple of enterprising Marines. It is probably 20 feet tall, and four-sided. It has two sides with overhanging lips that are pretty challenging. We are going to try to go down about two or three times a week. The trauma surgeon, battalion surgeon and myself went down. It represents a large portion of the medical brain trust on the camp, so I suppose any accident would not be good, but it is really pretty safe. The trauma surgeon, Tom Nelson, is an experienced alpine mountaineer and rock climber. Travis Clark, the battalion surgeon spends him time at home up at Joshua Tree, trying to find new lines up the rock. His climbing partner at home is our Assistant Operations Officer, or S-3 alpha, with the Marine Task Force here (funny coincidence, Erik). He is rehabilitating his ankle after a lead fall up at J Tree earlier this spring, but he plans on joining our little climbing group soon. Many thanks to Margarita for sending out multiple care packages, some of which contained my climbing gear and a rope. On that note, let me also thank Aunt Doris, Uncle Harold, brother Tom, Mom, Dad and darling daughter Zoe for sending me little boxes in the mail. That is truly the best part of the time out here when the mail comes.

Later today, I think I will hit some golf balls for practice. I have a bet to collect on when I get back home. Time for our daily briefing. I will try to be more diligent with postings in the future. Bye for now.