Udate on Comfort Ship

January 27:
Don’t think I wrote yesterday… shame on me. You know, your day can be
going very well and one thing happens and ruins it. Slam your hand in a
door, get a speeding ticket, or have to buy a bigger pair of pants. One
thing happened that made this a bad day for me. But a terrible day for
somebody else. I had been down in my dungeon all day but decided to
come up for some air. Skipper has me doing some slides for CNO and
of course its always rush rush. But I did take time to go up to the
first deck to get a soda.So I’m walking down the passageway
dum-de-dum-de-dum and I saw a woman in her early twenties walking
quickly the other way. As she got closer I could tell she was upset
and I just said, “Are you OK?” She threw her arms
around my neck, started sobbing, and said, “Just hold me, please.”
I held her for probably less than half a minute then she pulled away and
ran down the passageway. And I walked out onto the deck and the
heat where I just stood alone and cried. I’m just glad I could help
her then. But my eyes still just keep leaking. I learned later that
a baby she’d worked on for a few days was dying. The family was
going to withdraw the life support. This Ensign had fought
and fought against The Beast for days… but she lost… The Beast
always wins in the end. She was in so much pain and will
probably never be the same. I remember friends who were nurses
in Vietnam who I knew years later. And a friend now who works
in palliative care. It’s one thing being with a dying person who
has lived a long life. Quite another when it’s a nineteen year
old boy from Iowa dying for nothing in Vietnam. Or an innocent,
tiny baby dying in an earthquake.
A really bitter day…
Good night
Marty
28 Jan Evening
Today the last flight of Haitians en route to U.S. hospital took off.
There may be more flights later but not until the government of Haiti
allows it. The Air Force will not be parachuting any more supplies.
The Haitian government said it was too dangerous to those on the
ground and the people getting all the stuff were the strong who
needed it the least. The general feeling amongst the population is OK.
They're not angry, just frustrated. But there's a fine line between
those two. The Haitians seem to hang out wherever the Americans military
is because that's a safe place to be. And the BIG news.....
The FAA opened a new tower at the airport!!!
And some days one thing can make your whole day good. Flying into an
orange sunset, a bowl of Cherry Garcia, or holding a baby. Today
I left the dungeon and went into a ward I think on the fifth deck.
I didn't know the ladders went down that far! This is a ward for
people who need minimal care. I went to get a 10 year old girl to
take to the flight deck to go home. The dynamics of the people
there was quite like what I've heard of those ashore. There are
a few Haitian women from shore and a few Haitian born American
citizen women all aged perhaps 40 years plus. And they all
came to hug and kiss her goodbye. I understand there aren't many
orphans here. They are children whose parents have died but the
social fabric is strong and people just take care of kids.
This girl's parents were alive, just not on the ship. I took her
up and passed her over to the combat cargo Marine and she was gone.
A happy day for her and her family.
On the way to dinner there was a doctor from CASREC holding
a baby in her arms running down the passageway to the ICU.
A woman, probably mother, was screaming and running after them.
There's just always something ripping at your heart here...
But it was a good day today.
Time too start working on the CNO briefing slides. The Skipper
passed some slides I made to the Commodore this morning. I was
wondering how long it would take before his staff asked me to
make some for them... about an hour. So I'm suddenly the guy
who knows how to make graphs. Wowzers... I didn't know that
was so tough. And that's why I went to Virginia Tech.
Sleep well tonight,
END OF REPORT
Marty