You Never Give But That You Also Receive

     I was watching a segment on the news today, and I felt myself getting emotional.

    The captain of the U.S.S. Mercy Ship was talking about their recent mission to Indonesia. Only six months have elapsed since the earthquake, and the subsequent tsunami that killed a quarter million people.

     Captain _________ told of limbs set, and lives saved, and he grew teary-eyed as he characterized the mission of our government’s hospital ship. And his story reminded me of my own.

     For thirteen years ago I was “called out” by the same “Uncle Sam” that required so much of that empathetic captain. My National Guard unit, and in fact half the guardsmen in Florida, (and for that matter another 30,000 active duty troops from all the military services) served in what seemed a war zone.

     For every house and every business for twenty miles in all directions were either damaged or demolished. Never in American History, (‘til Katrina and New Orleans) have so many military personnel been called for a peacetime mission, or has so much monetary damage been done in one place, at one time.

 

    Oh, it wasn't fun. The whole lot of us in my unit went eight days without a shower. We lived in hot, military-issue tents. Mosquitoes galore. Rainwater flowing across the dirt floor. Sleeping on canvas cots. Long days, and short nights. Sunlight burning our skin to a "nice" bronze.

     But I’ll never forget one ad-lib moment in time. Three of us were coming out of a Mc Donald’s restaurant, our M-16 rifles slung over our shoulders; sacks of fast-food in our hands. As we sauntered towards our jeep, a woman walked up, and embraced me! I’ll never forget her words.

    “You guys have no idea how much we appreciate your being here for us.”

    Her words, and her tangible display of affection made every ache, every pain, every tear, every small effort… worthwhile.

     I think of her still.

 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Musings"