Here's another post from Duke. It deals with a pilot and is my favorite posting from Duke so far.
The other day after Operation Matador, there was an increase in the number of injured soldiers and Marines. They usually are transitioned at least a few hours in our facility before they are transferred to a plane for evacuation to Germany. During this time, it is possible to talk with the injured warriors and get their first hand perspective as I am clearing them to fly and making sure their pain is under control. During this particular day, I had heard many of the stories of the hand to hand and house to house fighting that was going on. Many of the injured servicemen had been ambushed. For every unit that is on the ground going to door to door, there are also helicopters and jets supporting the troops from the air. They are there to watch and protect and intervene as indicated.
As day became evening an F-16 fighter pilot and one of the flight surgeons assigned to his unit came by to talk to the troops. He was one of the pilots that was flying high above the action and supporting the troops on the ground during the recent offensive. It was very touching to watch this pilot walk from litter to litter talking with each of the injured. I watched from a distance as he asked what had happened to each of the wounded. He then explained that he was watching out for them from high above. As I watched his face, it was not the usual sympathetic face of one of the medics. His face showed signs of taking each wounded soldier as someone he was responsible for. I could imagine that as his task was to support these troops from the air, that each troop that he saw that had been injured was in someway his failure.
When I talked to the flight surgeon, she commented that the pilot had been very quiet after talking to the troops. She thought that the experience had affected him deeply. I was very impressed that this pilot was willing to come and talk with these brave men. It is sometimes said of pilots that since they are so far removed from the action of the infantry that they are involved in a sanitized type of warfare. I personally think this is nonsense. However, this was the first pilot I had seen come face to face with the wounded that just hours before he had been protecting. There was definitely something different about this man.
A couple weeks later I was leaving church and a man in a flight suit called to me. It was that same pilot and he thanked me again for allowing him to visit the troops. Somehow it didn’t surprise me to see him at church.
Two nights ago around 11pm I was sitting at my desk in the tent where we hold the patients waiting to be aerovac’d out. The pilot came up and asked if he could go and talk with the injured again. How impressive. This wasn’t a guy doing a once a year journey to the soup kitchen to absolve his guilt. There weren’t any press or photographers around. He had come after work when most were sleeping. He really cared about these men, felt responsibility for them and I believe this made him a better pilot. I think he is a great example of true compassion. He probably is learning that from His Savior.
Sloi Deo Gloria
More thoughts to come
