April 2, 2008 - MED WAR Volunteer

So, I did something I've never done before.

I volunteered for a medical Wilderness Adventure Race. They had it at Fort Gordon, GA the last weekend in March.

Anyways, it was one of the best experiences ever. I had a lot of fun and met some great new friends in the process! :)

I slept in my car for the weekend:

I need to buy some real camping gear...I'm still using stuff from high school and college.

Anyways, this race was about a 7 hour race.

It was a wilderness adventure race that was filled with all different kinds of medical scenarios.

There were a lot of EMTs, nursing students, firemen, med students, etc. and me! haha

I mean, I have watched ER since it first aired so...i was totally qualified to be there!!! j/k

I was a volunteer, not a racer.

I liked volunteering. :)

Brittany and I (in photo above) were put in a canoe and off we went to the island! I felt like I was on LOST or something. lol (I kept looking around for Jack!)

A goose on the island had just laid its eggs:

Or maybe she was still pregnant about to let them all out or something...i really can't remember. Anyways, we had to put up caution tape all around her area so that no one would disturb her.

Anyways, our particular scenario was pretty cool. The racers had teams of 4. They had to split into two's. Two teammates canoed to our island and the other two had to run to another portion (called Point B) to meet their teammates after they went through the scenario on our island.

The canoers had to go to several locations to retrieve these passcodes. Each passcode (if they were able to obtain them) had a certain score value to them.

The maximum number of points they could obtain was 4.

When they reached our island, we would log in the team and ask them for their passcodes. Then depending on how many points they got for their passcodes, that is how many paintballs they got.

See, when they got to our island, their scenario was that a bear was attacking them and they had to shoot at it to save their lives.

They shot at it with a sling shot and paint balls.

The bear after the race was over:

They couldn't find a photo of a grizzly. The only thing they could find was a polar bear!!! haha They called it the great white grizzly. LOL

So, if they got all the passcodes, then they got 4 shots at the bear, etc.

If they shot the bear, they got to proceed to Point B in the race.

If they missed, that meant the bear had gauged out their teammates' eyes. Therefore, one teammate had to bandage up the eyes of the other teammate and help him or her back in the canoe. Yes, they had to canoe to the other island with both eyes bandaged. They had totally rely on communication and trust of their teammate.

They canoed to the other island where the other two teammates were waiting to help them carry the canoe to the next portion of the race.

That was just one of the scenarios. There were so many more. We were on the island when it started raining. We finally made it back to camp and waited for the racers to come in to finish. It started storming.

It was freezing!

We had a party afterwards and watched a slide show of all the pics taken that day...and ate some really good food....BBQ and hash...and drank from a keg later that night!

Anyways, next year, I think I want to race. We'll see.

My friend's race team:

They finished in the top 10.

There were a total of 27 teams.

I had so much fun doing this. I met new friends. It was a great experience.

It was very interesting as well...as far as the medical scenarios went...burn victim, atv accident, identifying poisonous snakes, answering medical questions, wading through a swamp, mountain biking, building a shelter, etc. you name it, it was a part of the race.

During a break in the rain later that evening, we roasted marshmallows. Yummy! I love sitting around a camp fire. There is nothing quite like it sometimes. Telling jokes, reminiscing, etc.