Duke Home From Iraq - Final Thoughts

Duke has now returned from Iraq and offers us all these final thoughts:

There are a couple of different ways of getting home from Iraq. Most leave via large charter air craft. I was able to fly home a different way as a flight surgeon. A patient who had had a little too much of combat needed a medical attendant to accompany him on the aerovac flight to Germany in case he decompensated on the plane and required medication. I was chosen to care for this tired soldier on his way to Germany and then I would catch a cargo plane home. The flight to Germany was uneventful and the patient did well. When I arrived in Germany I found a plane that was going to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. I had about 16 hours between landing and my next flight. When it was time for me to board the aircraft, I assembled all of my gear, which was two large gear bags each weighing about 75 pounds, the echocardiography machine, and my personal belongings. I was at the base of a ladder that led to the crew compartment of the C-5 that was to carry me back to my home, the USA. I started to carry the first oversized bag up the ladder. I needed to climb about 15 feet to the door. As my eyes cleared the door I saw who was joining me on my flight home. In the front of this huge cargo plane, sitting very stately on a pallet, was a flag-draped casket. It took my breath away. My traveling partner and I were at the two extremes of coming home. I was looking forward to waving the flag and he was under the flag. My eyes teared as I took in the sight and the difference of our fates. The base I was at took over 150 mortar and rocket attacks during my four months. Any one of those mortars could have hit me and some came very close; but I was spared any injury. Instead I returned home in better shape than I have been for a long time.

The flight to Dover lasted about nine hours. As soon as we landed the honor guard appeared to take the fallen soldier from the plane. The C-5 has a unique feature. Because it is so tall in order to load or unload cargo the front of the plane can be lowered. When the plane does this it is referred to as “kneeling”. In order for the flag-draped casket to be removed from this plane, it would need to kneel. It seems fitting for such a solemn event that even the plane would kneel in reverence for the sacrifice of the fallen. As the door of the C-5 opened there was the honor guard, called to attention by their leader. I was excited to be back home; in contrast, the honor guard was somber as they performed the duty of honoring the fallen Marine. What a contrast indeed! Two members of the armed services were coming home. I walked with a renewed energy in my step even though it was after 1:00 am. The Marine was carried for transport to a waiting family and his final resting place.

I had hoped to be home on the 3rd of September. It was what my wife, many friends and family members had been praying for. Before I saw my fellow passenger on the C-5, I did not understand why God has chosen the delay. However, when my eyes saw the mourning flag, crisply tied to a stainless steel casket, I started to understand. God had taught me much during my four months in Iraq. He had taken care of me and my family, He had showed me the bravery of young men and women, and He had helped me to understand what my father-in-law went through during Viet Nam. I witnessed the very best and worst of what Man can do. I saw people literally blown up and I saw people risking and sacrificing their lives for others. I saw a people encouraged by the hope of freedom and a life free of tyranny. I saw Iraqi children playing with toys donated from people who had never met them and probably never will, in hopes of bringing joy and a smile to a face that had seen the horrors of war and an insurgency bent on stealing the freedom that was won with precious lives.

As I end my “Thoughts from the Cradle” I want to share with you what I feel God taught me. It comes from a song that He used to challenge and sustain me through difficult times.

	All I once held dear, built my life upon

	All this world reveres, and wars to own

	All I once thought gain, I have counted loss

	Spent and worthless now, compared to this


	Now my hearts desire, is to know You more

	To be found in You, and known as Yours

	To possess by faith, what I could not earn

	All surpassing gift, of righteousness

	Oh to know the power of Your risen life

	And to know You in Your sufferings

	To become like You in Your death my Lord

	So with You to live and never die

	Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You

	There is no greater thing

	You’re my all, You’re the best

	You’re my joy, my righteousness

	And I love You Lord

I have no higher thoughts.

Soli Deo Gloria

Posted by Tim at September 14, 2005 08:53 AM