ROTA

Madrid for round two

I arrived in Spain nearly two months ago already, it's hard for me to believe that time has flown by that quickly.When I first got here I took a trip up to madrid to see the tourist side of things, but I never really got a good chance to experience the nightlife and cultural aspect of it all, so, I decided to take another trip, this time with 8 of my friends from the command. I leave this afternoon for yet another tour of Madrid. However this time I do believe the trip will be quite different. :)

HM2 Jackie Rodriguez

Orthopedics

We had a meeting this week at work where we discused who should take over the orthopedics department of the Main Operating Room. Well somehow, I, being fresh out of school and into the navy, was selected, so now I am the senior tech for orthopedics in the hospital. One of two techs in all of Europe. I don't think I realize, yet what a responsibility this will be, but i know that for the next two years I will be in charge of my own surgical service and I will learn more about it than I caould anywhere else(esp as a civilian).

Surgery in the Navy

Surgery

I am obviously in the Navy, but I have, what I believe, is one of the best jobs in the military. I am a Surgical Assistant. When I get to work I don't sit at a desk in a cube, I do however throw a pair of scrubs on, scrub my hands thoroughly for 11min and gown and glove into surgery. I enjoy it more than anything else I've ever done(except perhaps the nostalgia of working on the farm growing up).
But it really is fun. I am an ortho specialist(aka "Orhtopod"), so I deal mostly with knees and hips and shoulders and other joints and all bones in general.
Today we had a shoulder arthroscopy with a slight reconstruction and tomorrow we get to do a bunionectomy and an ACL Repair on a knee. I need to try and take some pictures so i can post them on here, but it is hard to do in a sterile environment...so we shall see.

Me and my buddy Zach being dorks

Idaho...woot...I don't know exactly what Josh is doing but we were obviously very excited

Josh and I at the US Air Force Academy

Entering my birth state...Colorado

Long straights of Kansas

Storms of Kansas

Josh questioning Elvis's loitering

Me at the country music hall of fame in TN

Tennesse

Coming Home(PCS Leave)

Although it has been a mere 90 days since I left my last command, my life has gone for a real spin. I drove my car home from Portsmouth, VA to Moscow and totaled at passing through 14 different states. (to include a fun stop in Nashville, TN, and Colorado Springs, CO).
My faithful pony carried me and my best friend all 4000 miles at a steady 85MPH, and we only got pulled over once(in Kentucky). We took our time and saw the sites we wanted to and got some good country music fun in Nashville.
We spent two days in Yellowstone park and somehow managed to miss any interesting animals on the first day, so we spent the night in Cody and drove back through the next morning. We came across some Buffalo the first few miles into the park where several tourists thought that it was the coolest thing they had ever seen in there life and proceeded to block traffic for a good 20 min or so. After that we didn't have a whole lot of interest seeing buffalo anymore. So we drove to the Montana border and then......finally......the State line of beautiful Idaho. It was a very exciting thing to see a sign we had been waiting over 3,000miles to see. We then stopped and my sisters house in Boise and stayed for 2 days. I also got a flat tire here and had to buy four new tires, but I was very glad it happened there and not somewhere in the middle of Kansas or Missouri.
We then made it home to Moscow, it was an awesome feeling(as it always is) to come home after being gone for so long.

Surgery

This I believe was a bunionectomy, which can be done in ASC(ambulatory surgery center), so it's a same day surgery, the patient walks out with a cast on. Most the time they take no longer than 45 min.

My good buddies Travis and Kendall at one of our well loved Tides baseball games.

Me and Jenny, my date to the 111th Corpsman ball at the waterside Mariott.

The view toward the base hospital and Elizabeth bay.

Last days in the wonderful USA

I have decided to begin a blog so that I may document my next two years in Spain and my last few weeks here State side.

As of August 14th I will be flying from NAB Norfolk and entering into what will be my home for the next two years, Europe. And however excited I may be about my new home, I hope to get in as much good American country living within the next few weeks.

I will be stationed at NAVHOSP Rota, Spain for a period of no less than two years, and perhaps extend it to three.

I hope to document the next two years with lots of pictures and videos so I can share my experience with ya'll!

So far, my time in the Navy has been a great experience in many ways. I have been blessed by my goals being handed to me on a silver platter thus far. I just finished a 7mo long Surgical Tech program wich puts me one step closer to my goal of Med school after Spain.

I have enjoyed my temporary home in Portsmouth, VA as I have had time to travel the east coast and the atlantic ocean. But overall I dont feel like i am leaving anything behind as I travel to Spain.