San Antonio- STARS dia uno

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Hello hello. I am off for another adventure!
I left for HOT Texas yesterday, and it was not sad kissing the gray and rain away. I traded in my rain boots for combat boots and I am back in action.
The airport started out hectic and crazy, and it took me over an HOUR just to get my bags checked. For all the kiosks open at the counter, they only had one attendant working. You really don't understand how rude society has become until you are next to people at the airport. I started to get mad because there was a girl by me with her mom and boyfriend and her mom was SO annoying. Then, the chick demands she get something for free because she is in the Navy. I snuck a peek at her ID, and she is an E-2. She has yet to put in the time to be demanding ANYTHING! Once I finally got my luggage squared away. I was able to pass up security and go into a new TSA screening line. It's called Pre-TSA. If you haven't heard of it, you should Google it. Once I passed by everyone, including that Navy girl, it was smooth sailing.
I finally broke down and bought "Fifty Shades of Grey" because I have heard nothing but awesomeness about it. I am about 100 pages into it and it is quite the interesting story. ----> here is Rainier. A totally awesome view. All the mountains were out, so I got to see Helens, Baker, Hood, and Rainier unobstructed. It was so pretty! It's funny how chastised you get for pulling out your phone on a plane to take a picture. I now know how Alec Baldwin felt while playing Words with Friends!
Next stop, San Antonio! After a brief layover in Houston, my friend and travel companion Jenn and I jetted off south, back to Lackland. I came here a few years ago, and I was down this way last October in preps for my deployment, but it was not nearly as warm as it is now!
Being back here brings back so many memories. It's fun to watch the kids going through boot camp. It brings me back to it all over again. I may or may not have mentioned it before, but I really loved boot camp. It was a fun experience. Granted, it sucked for the most part because you are sleep deprived, hungry, and hot, but I made some incredible memories and some met a lot of great people. When I went to boot camp it was March until June, so this heat was in full swing when I was here before too!
Moving along...I love the weather here. I am a wet heat kind of person. I enjoy dry heat as well, but I like humidity. Today was the first day of class. I am participating in STARS, formerly known as TOP STARS. This course is designed to refresh training, learn new tactics, and develop further into our career fields. I am one of the lowest ranking individuals in the class, which is ok, but it sure is intimidating! Hopefully, I can put on rank by the end of this year. I feel like I have been an E-4 forever! Today, we went over Enroute care, SABC (Self Aid Buddy Care), and Medication Administration.
In the Enroute Care section, we learned about different aircraft and the differences between space available for litters and patients on KC-130 and C-17's. We also learned our 9-line MedEvac requests, different staging facilities, and the differences between urgent, priority, and convenience patients.
The SABC section was my favorite. I am in charge of the Self Aid Buddy Care of my unit, so it was neat to take some bits and pieces from the different teachings and techniques used by the instructor. In this class, we learned about the iFAK, also known as the 'individual first aid kit.' These are kits with pertinent components to ensure you have basic supplies to help you, or your comrades, in case of emergency. This is by far my favorite area or medical care because it keeps you on your toes. When you are out in the middle of nowhere taking on fire and someone gets hurt, you don't really have a whole lot of supplies readily available. It's all about improvising now. Filling boots with sand and stabilizing a neck, using a belt as a tourniquet, even using your uniform and sticks to create splints for broken limbs.
 I love it!
Oh yeah, this is hoopty <-- our sweet ass Nissan Versa. Complete with manual door locks and hand crank windows. Woot!
Medication Administration has never been my strong point, and I never claim to it being either! We briefly touched on pharmacological calculations, but it can get so confusing, especially when you have to calculate the amount of drips you need per hour using a certain medication that is a certain size, but you have to convert it to another measurement. Luckily, I was able to understand it pretty well once I did a few problems, but let's just say I will not be majoring in Computational Pharmacology.
This evening served to be quite the adventure! After relaxing a little and doing our homework, Jenn and I decided to go find something to eat for dinner. I have to admit, Urban Spoon really let me down on this one! Normally, I hit 'nearby' and a ton of awesome restaurants pop up. Not this time. We spent literally an HOUR driving around San Antonio looking for something to eat. Sadly, we ended up back on base... eating pizza at the BX. What a shame. It was delicious and filling, but an hour... oy.
Well, from what I gather, the class is going to be pretty fun. The weather is great, an I am with a good friend.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you all with my rambling.
See you soon!