The dogs of war, literally..

Afghanistan has one of the highest rabies rates in the world. Probably because there isn't one rabies vaccine for dogs in the whole country, except for military working dogs. There is a very strict no pets rule here but it doesn't keep people from feeding feral cats and dogs. People love their animals. There is a poster that we posted that shows a cute puppy. That has rabies. It doesn't have to be Cujo to be dangerous. Everything here is trying to kill you, including a cute puppy. Who let the dogs out? In Afghanistan, Satan, apparently. We had a worker who was accidentally bitten by a dog. Poor guy, his job is to dump the garbage at the garbage dump at one of the fobs and he was doing his job when a dog just walked by and suddenly turned and bit him on the leg. Rabies ain't no joke. Only three people in history have survived rabies. There are two types of injections that you need, a "Rabivert" which all of our fobs have and HRIG. HRIG is about $1200 a pop so it is only available at Role Three's. Like ours. This guy was out of our area but, because of the way flights are, we are closer, logistically. We could either medevac him here or send the HRIG there.  So I went down to the R-3 and pleaded my case. No problem, I was told just fill out the paperwork. Paperwork? Of course, it is a military hospital. While I was waiting, one of the bomb sniffing dogs was hanging out in the hospital with his handler.  He is a sweetheart and loves to be petted. He really should be a therapy dog. We have a therapy dog, but all the handlers agree that he is "useless." He is a big lazy black lab. "Igor" on the other hand, is a young bouncy Shepard mix. He even knows how to pose for pictures. Looks right at the camera. Ears up, adopts cute puppy look. He is super smart. And a handsome boy at that. His handler knows how much people miss their dogs so he brings him to the Boardwalk and other places so people can get their "puppy fix." Igor doesn't seem to mind at all. Beats sniffing out bombs.
 So there I was, petting a dog, in a trauma center, waiting for a rabies vaccine that I had to give to one of my Medics to fly to a fob for a guy who was bitten by a dog.
Yep, just another day in Afghanistan. Woof.