TOURS OF DUTY 1

In memory of the soldiers killed recently in our war in Afghanistan, I quote from a recent book written by a physician, Dr. Hnida, who volunteered to serve as a trauma chief at a combat support hospital during the Surge in Iraq. This surgeon also spent a tour with a combat battalion in Iraq in 2004.

“We were witnessing the ‘rude unhinging of the machinery of life’ - a phrase coined during the
Civil War to describe the process of a body rapidly going in to shock, a condition where blood ceases to clot, blood pressure plummets, and the heart exhausts itself to a standstill. Throughout the ages, countless physicians have stood by helplessly as their patients spiraled down the pathway to death; there was nothing they could do to halt the journey,. We reluctantly joined that centuries-old fraternity”

Noting a death - needless, unavoidable and eventual - should remind us Americans at home of the meaning of ‘doing one’s duty.’ A soldier’s self-sacrifice was noted and not lost to Dr. Hnida during his service to country. On this day of mid-term primary elections, Tuesday, June 8th, let’s hope other warriors running for office who have picked up the baton of freedom to protest and overturn our out-of-control government, will be elected to serve and do their tours of duty.