Today marks a big day in the history of CAB ... our Base commander change-over day ... me, roland, KK and WC were the cover medics ... Dan was in the marching contingent for the change-over parade ...
So there I was , spending my morning at the parade square( just beside one of the hangers ) ever vigilant for any signs of impending disasters ... This was just the rehearsal so i was the only medic ard ... yawnz ... shld have slept earlier the night before ...
Lunch-time ! for the first time in my life as a medic, I had my virgin meal at the famed SFI cookhouse of CAB ... the food was a million times greater than the packet food they send over to the medical centre everyday ... got shark fin somemore ! Beat that ! although its fake but still delicious ...
after lunch the real thing begins .. this time all 4 medics were present .. Lynn came along too ... WC was positioned at the ambulance with the driver, roland n KK at the medical post hidden from the audience view while me n lynn were undercover medics sitting ard with the rest should ath unforeseen shld happen ...
and thus the parade begins ... halfway thru i felt really really sleepy ... struggling to keep myself awake ... then somewhere in btwn lala land and the real world i felt someone tapping really hard on my shoulder .. "suansiong suansiong! c that guy there like fainting ! " I was like .. "wha ... ? " when lynn tried in vain to show me where the guy was ... i scanned the area ... Me: "na li ? " Lynn : " there ... the indian guy .. can c? " Me( still trying to no avail) :" er .. " Lynn: " where roland n kk?!" Me: " ..." ( getting ready to chiong out with MOP and alert the duo for the stretcher and at the same time, still looking for the alleged fainter ..) just as lynn calls KK on his Hp we see the dynamic duo rush on scene with the indispensable stretcher...
the guy was still standing actually but was swaying back n forth ... they managed to get him on the stretcher and transport him to the medical post ... I rushed there to aid them ... I reached the medical post just as the duo reached ... there we executed our spectatcular 3 men first aid manouver ( which was actually just 3 medics doing whatever the other 2 forgot to do ...) ...
Just as the stretcher touched the ground roland tested his consciousness ... " hello hello are u Ok ?!!!! " no response ... oh shit ... he's unconscious!!! My first sigh of relief came went he opened his eyes for a few secs when roland inflicted pain on that guy ... At least he's not totally unconscious! KK was testing the DABC while i skipped to the SCC part after a very simplified RBS ... than roland went on to test GCS to make sure... my second sigh of relief : when the guy replied correctly his location ... Yea ! in the end GCS fifteen ... happy man ... i was doing documentation by then while KK took the paras ... phew .. nothing serious ... tink it was mainly fatigue... went back to undercover ( not really since everyone saw me rush out to the medical post ... ) and updated lynn on the situation ... * to the medically uninitiated ... we came back with one very tired person ...
Actually what left the greatest mark on me that day was not the first aid response nor the base comm thanking us( he shook our hands! Gasp! ) nor the compliements recieved by CAMO ( good job ! double gasp !! ) but the pride and sense of duty of the guy who nearly fainted ... yup ... this weakened soldier was already gasping for breath when we brought him in... was also feeling giddy and was a little oblivious to what was happening ard him ... but when the guard of honour( his platoon ) marched passed with the colours, he gathered his strength, stood up from the stretcher and saluted along with the rest... he expressed his desire to stay on till the end of the parade instead of going back to the medical centre ... in the parade square, he stood his ground , standing straight, refusing to fall ... ( though i'm sure it would have been better if he marched out on his own but i guess dignity prevented that ..) not sure if i would do the same if i were in his shoes ...
well ... there's no moral of story here ... just penning my thoughts ... I