Captain McFarland and Surgical Training.

Good Evening Everyone,

Well we had the honor of participating in the promotion ceremony for Bryan. He was promoted to the rank of Captain. We held a small ceremony outside in the area behind our clinic. He was a Lieutenant for 17 years so we are happy to see him finally move up. Just kidding. He is an awesome soldier and provider and a good friend to me. Secondly, today Bryan decided to do some training for a couple of our troops so he decided that I needed to have a couple of inclusionary cyst cut out from under my scalp. We spend a great deal of time training our medics as many of these troops do not have medical occupations in the civilian world. So, tonight Bryan taught two of our medics how to perform a local anesthetic, and how to suture. I was glad to have these cyst removed so it worked out well for them to practice on me. We don't publish pictures of any procedures or medical care that we perform on our patients as it would not be appropriate. So, you get to see the minor things that we do on eachother.

The two medics that you will see in the photos below are Samantha Hatfield and Daniel Troxel. As you can see Captain McFarland is right next to them, closely supervising and teaching some basic techniques. In the civilian world medics would not be allowed to perform such procedures. But in the military, medics have increased responsibilities because often times they are out in the field alone and responsible for the care of large number of troops. So without further delay, I will show your our pictures.

Picture 1: Mike is pinning Bryans rank on his uniform as I read the Presidental Order authorizing his promotion. Bryan was Mike's student at Butler University. Mike is the one who recruited Bryan into the officer corps.

Picture 2: Here Bryan is in front of the platoon after the pinning.

Picture 3: Everyone then shook Bryan's hand after the promotion. Here he is talking to Captain Ha who is our optometrist and Sgt. French who is our supply Sgt.

Picture 1&2: Here Bryan is teaching Hatfield how to perform a local.

Picture 3: Hatfield makes her initial incision.

Picture 1: Bryan is showing Hatfield how to be a little more aggresive when making an incision.

Picture 2: Here Troxel has stepped in to remove the second cyst.

Picture 3: Troxel is injecting the lidocaine.

Picture 1,2&3: Troxel is eager to learn and gives a big thumbs up. The last picture Bryan is demonstrating how to make an incision that follows the dermatones so that when the wound is closed, the skin comes together much easier.

Picture 1&2: Finishing Up.

Picture 3: All done. Bryan and our medics did such a good job that you can hardly see the incisions. I have a little bald spot on my scalp from the previous cyst removal that Bryan did for me a couple of weeks ago.