My wife and I just returned home after a week in Buenos Aires yesterday.... Complete vegetables after the combined 14 hour trip. Unfortunately the day we returned my son had to check himself into Balboa Medical Center for a collapsed lung, his second one. They determined that he needed to under go pleurodesis, an operation where they stick a camera up through your lung lining, snip out a lesion an ruff up the lining so it scabs and sticks together. When we saw him everything was good from the operation and he was recovering as expected which was a relief. I can't tell you how outstanding the staff was. After initially talking to an intern, then later the doctor who performed the operation answered all our questions, then the ward nurses that were all over him, ( my sons a cute kid), and only too kind to us.
I know that I was tired from the flight but when I combined the relief I felt that my son was ok and the professionalism and care that our son received at a time when he was in pain, (and we weren't in the position to help), I had to stop in the empty waiting room on our way out the door in order to stop blubbering like a child..... Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my old age......
Being that my wife and I were so emotionally wrought we completely forgot about getting the keys for our apartment from our son.... I had to go through the process of climbing up on our 2nd floor patio and break in through our sliding door.... I'm 60 but I'm still pretty spry.....<g>
After exercising some classic rehumanizing techniques ie. sh%#, shower, and shave, I flipped on FOX and skimmed through the posts of the last 2 days. Here's where I start to wonder if I'm not in some modified version of Steven King's 'Langoliers'.
As I reflect on the mind blowing and unheard of aspect of abandoning fellow Americans in harms way, I'm revisited by the feeling that I've returned to the wrong country.....perhaps a wrong turn at Albuquerque.... I'm concerned that someone in our gov't, very close or even in the WH betrayed an honerable tradition and moral ethic that we've maintained since before this country was founded.....
At this point I'd like to assert to you, while I did serve in the Navy for 20 years I have 0 combat experience, (other than serving in what's considered a combat zone). I happily signed up as an avionics technician and served my entire stint in a more or less secure environment. So most of the time the scariest thing I did was sticking my hand near the high voltage (45KV) of a large screen display and having the hair on my arm stand up. The riskiest situation I was in, without a doubt, was working the deck of an aircraft carrier where you're constantly aware of danger, not only towards yourself but all around you. That being said, I must also add that under more general terms, people who've served in the military have more of a sense of fraternity through teamwork when it comes to trusting others too protect your back. If you don't have that on the flightdeck then either you get killed or maimed or you get someone else killed or maimed. If I in my position felt this sense of responsibility towards others safety along with the trust in others to watch my back I can only imagine the magnifying effects that combat would have on that feeling.
In the microcosm of our squadron that sense of care came from our Commanding Officer where it's supposed to be strongest and filters down through his subordinates the way a healthy squadron should. I could easily draw a parallel with our current leadership, (or lack thereof), on a larger scale. The impact that this may have on morale could be extremely detrimental, not only to agents in the field but also to soldiers.....
IMO, this is the worst WH scandal in the history of the United States...... |
