ROAD KILL – DAY TWO – SEPTEMBER 3^RD:

I started the “Road Kill Reports” for this trip because I felt I needed to share the experiences at Bethesda and Walter Reed with everyone.   After spending the day there today, I know that I can’t.   It’s simply too personal.   I will give you a synopsis but the experiences we shared there today with the finest young men and women in the world are too special to write about in an email.

I got up early and went into a really nice little gym at the hotel to run on the treadmill for an hour.   Then we departed the hotel at about 10:30 am for the first stop at Bethesda.   Our driver and our escort from USO Metro are long-time friends and wonderful people to work with.  My only concern was the fact that we had only allowed one hour for the visit to Bethesda and I knew it would take much longer.   We actually spent about 3 hours there!   We had a wonderful escort at Bethesda to walk us around also.   He gave us a “briefing” on each marine that we met before we went into the rooms.  I kept notes on each man and woman that we met because I want to be able to look back and remember their stories.

Again, we did not meet one person who was “bitter” about their fate in life and everyone was worried about their buddies that they had left in Iraq.   Without fail, they all stated that they wished their injuries were such that they would heal quickly and they could go back to Iraq.  We did meet one young man who was pretty insistent that he was NOT a hero.

After visiting Bethesda, we had a quick lunch where we met a wonderful lady who volunteers to assist the USO in escorting the visitors to the hospitals.   We were supposed to go to the Occupational Therapy Ward and spend a couple of hours with the amputees.  However, because we were so late in arriving, we had to visit the individual rooms first.  Then, we spent so long doing this, we did not get to visit the OT patients at all.   This was a real disappointment to me as we had several “names” of soldiers that we wanted to say hello to from various people.  We had a wonderful Chaplain who escorted us from room to room, introducing us to the men and women.    In each room at both hospitals, we spent anywhere from 10-20 minutes talking with them.   Chely autographed photos that we had brought with us and the USO took Polaroid photos that we left with the soldiers and marines.   The Chaplain “mentioned” that there were a lot of children and their parents on the pediatric ward that never received any visits from the celebrities.    Chely and I are such “softies” that we immediately agreed to go see them.  By 8:30 pm we had visited with 22 soldiers and marines ranging in age from 19 to 37 years old and 7 children and their parents.   The children ranged in age from 3 months to 22!

The absolute highlight of my day was walking into one of the soldier’s room and introducing myself and his response was, “I remember you”!   He was at Camp Anaconda in Balad in July when I was there with Chalee Tennison and Danni Leigh.  I was amazed that he remembered me and so sad that he had been injured.   I assured him that if Chely got to go back there on her tour, that we would say hello to all his buddies for him.    He was hit by shrapnel when an RPG was lobbed over the fence line.   This happened SO many times while we were there in July. 

We got the names of everyone and where they had served so that when Chely tours there in a few days, we can say hello for them.   We asked each person where they were from, how their injury happened and where they were serving when it happened.   It made it so much more “real” when talking with them because I have visited almost all of the Camps where they had served.   Have I mentioned lately how wonderful Chely is with these fine, young men and women?   She is genuinely interested in their injuries and not at all squeamish about touching their wounds.  One soldier had eaten a lot of junk food yesterday and Chely held his “pink bucket” for she put him totally at ease.   When she leaves the room, everyone knows that she was there because she cares about them, wants to know about their injuries and their personal lives, and she will continue going overseas to entertain them and their buddies and visiting the wounded.  (Photo left:  Chely, Scott and Judy).

The hardest part of the day was visiting with a handsome young man who had lost both of his eyes.   It was a very recent injury and he was trying to adjust to not having his sight.  He is going to be fitted with “bionic” eyes as soon as feasible. 

We met an amazing Two Star General who commanded the 4 ID and remembered my visits there at Christmas and 4^th of July.   His 26 year old son was in the hospital and had lost his left arm. 

The injuries we saw were caused by a variety of things from IED’s, grenades, gunshots, RPGs, mortar attacks, and one from a humvee colliding with a tank. 

I know that many of you read this and think that war is a terrible thing and I agree, it is.   But if you could see the pride and hear the stories of these men and women who have served on the front lines and risked their lives so that we can continue to live in a “free America”, you would know that it is worth the sacrifice.    We left there today feeling emotionally and physically drained but with a renewed enthusiasm to come back and visit again as soon as possible and to take more entertainment to our men and women still serving overseas.  It is impossible to convey in writing what we experienced.   I will say that this visit was much “easier” than our first visit last May.   This time we knew what to expect and I only cried once (privately, of course) the entire day.

Jude