At times we have just one medic at the PO. The other medics might be on leave, or out on long range patrols in other areas. When this occurs, the units that are staying at the safe house should not go out too far, because the only professional first aid personnel would be a too long time away should there be a casualty. Thus, in these situations patrols are made only in the immediate vicinity of Aybak. There is no point in taking unnecessary risks in this respect. The only way to help the situation is to wait for additional medical resources, such as other teams coming in from patrols, medics returning from leave - or medical reinforcements detached from other units and sent in to us by HQ.
Today's PO patrol was hot, dusty, short and resultless. We tried to find a village just outside of Aybak where there reportedly had been some kind of problem with the water reservoir. Once we found the village no-one there seemed to know anything about any problem with any reservour, but they had a multitude of other problems to share. None of the elders, who had visited the PO two days earlier were available to meet us, which speaks volumes. We confirmed that it was the right village, but soon both my interpreter and I got fed up with being lied to. We left the village without saying goodbye (khud hafiz, pronounced good office) and told the Afghans that if they want to discuss the issue further, they know where to find us.
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