The metal floor is slicky
Desert heat amplifies
The odor of ***** and blood
Mostly empty IV bags hang on their stands
Packaging from numerous medical supplies
Litter the ground

Quickly and carefully I clean and spray and sweep and scrub
I sort and pack and refit and reorganize
Preparing the chopper for the next call

Lives were saved
But
I don’t know what will become of them
Some will leave the Army
Some will come back here
Some will do the job the enemy couldn’t do
And take their own lives

I can’t think about that
This is hard enough

HEARTBREAK
Young French woman is very pregnant and about to give birth to a baby. She lives in a remote area so the air ambulance helicopter is called, a state of the art Eurocopter with a highly trained crew. Modern helicopter and trained crew, they know what they’re doing. Pick up the girl to take her to hospital, arrive in style in a cool chopper. Time moves on exceedingly fast, medic aboard the Eurocopter tends the girl. She’s soon plus one when she gives birth to a baby. That bit is over. Young mum did her bit, now the pilot must fly them safely to hospital so all can be well. It’s not to be, helicopter flies through a snow blizzard. Something isn’t right, should they be allowed to fly in atrocious weather? Is it an all weather helicopter with a crew trained to fly in the snow? Was it at night? They baby graced God’s earth for two minutes, bringing the mother happiness. Then the helicopter flew into an Alpine mountainside killing all aboard. What an unreal heartbreaking story. I read about this in the Attrition Section in Air Forces Monthly magazine. I’m still incredulous and sad that this ever happened. A smashed helicopter with dead flight crew and dead family who never had the chance to see any of life’s potential in any way. I wonder what God thinks about this? Never mind the grieving father. Think of what could have been?