Daily Blessings: Trip to NC

October 30, 2011

Wounded Warriors, Life on the Base and Other Fun Things

The first thing I need to do today is share a photo of Tanya and her lucky wallet that I intended to post yesterday. Sorry for the omission! I still believe that wallet saved us from hurricane Sandy! :)

With that done I can tell you what happened on Day 3...

The first thing we all did was SLEEP IN. We were pretty tired. Around about 9:30 a.m. I made us all some waffles and we took our sweet time getting organized.

The only thing we had to do today was get to the small airport outside Jacksonville to pick up Zach and Kylie. We left the cabin around noonish and drove across the base. I can't begin to describe the immenseness of Camp Lejeune. These Marine bases are HUGE. Jimmy says it takes a half hour to 45 minutes to drive from the back gate to the front gate. Parts are populated and other parts look like countryside.

For a bunch of civilians from Wisconsin there are plenty of sights that are considered normal here that seem very unusual to us. This for instance, is something we DON'T see every day back home...

We also regularly see convoys passing outside the kitchen window of the cabin here,...

...military helicopters fly overhead several times a day...

...and the cabin occasionally shakes from the low rumbling booms of tank cannon fire and other heavy artillery from training exercises. It is an interesting experience but oddly it's not scary. I guess we know that being surrounded by Marines is probably one of the safest situations on earth!!

Around noon we left for the airport. We had to go through the main gate check point. Don't try to get through here without a pass or an ID!

The gate guards, and yes, they are armed...

We arrived at the airport about 45 minutes early. The others all found ways to pass the time...

Jim responded to work emails and phone calls,...

Natalie played a game on her Kindle,...

...Jimmy took care of some business over the phone,...

...and responsible Tanya studied for a test she has next week. Richard was also responsible today. He stayed at the cabin and did his homework too.

I was the only one who didn't have the foresight bring something to keep myself occupied (you have NO idea how unusual that is for me!) so I just annoyed everyone by taking pictures.

Zack and Kylie's plane arrived right on time and before long we were finally able to meet Zach who had been wounded with Jimmy when their vehicle rolled and fell about 30 feet into a ditch in Afghanistan. Jimmy had been riding shot-gun when his driver hit a large rock. The mine-roller on the front went up over the rock and sheared off. The vehicle kept going up over the mine-roller and tipped into the deep ditch to the side. When the vehicle started to go over Jimmy tried to pull in Zach who was up in the gun turret. That is how Jimmy's arm was shattered. Jimmy did not have time to get Zach all the way inside the vehicle and Zach's back was broken. He has lost all feeling and movement from the chest down. Due to the extent of the injury he is not expected to regain feeling or movement below the chest. Zach's girlfriend Kylie has been with him every opportunity she can since he's returned. It is inspirational to see how supportive of him she is! All the way back to base and even after we got to the hotel Zach and Jimmy told stories of the accident, their rescue and the stages of their recovery from their injuries. It was humbling to listen to and I consider it an honor to know these brave young men!

Left to right: Kylie, Jimmy, Zach

The weather today was excellent and I can't get over how green everything still is here. It was around 55 degrees again today...

...but back in Beckley, WV it is still snowing. I hope it clears out by the time we need to go back through there!

After dropping us at the cabin Tanya and Jimmy went back to the hotel. Jimmy went to visit with Zach and Tanya joined Kylie and some of their friends making signs for Thursday.

We watched "The Avengers" while I made supper...