Operation Wounded
Warrior
Operation Wounded
Warrior was the first long motorcycle road trip I’ve
taken since my return from Japan four years ago. Unlike
the trip in Japan which was strictly for pleasure, this
trip had a mission; delivering health and comfort items
to wounded servicemen and women recuperating from battle
at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) at Ft. Sam Houston
in San Antonio, TX.
The injured troops
at BAMC are the worst of the worst medical cases needing
the absolute best care available. BAMC is a Level-1
amputee and trauma center, and is the premier burn unit
in the United States, not just in the military. The
wounded warriors who have the misfortune to end up at
BAMC spend on average, 30 months in recovery and
rehabilitation, learning how to live with the injuries
they’ve sustained. There is nobody more deserving of
our help than these warriors whose lives have been
forever changed.
Our trip started as
we headed out on motorcycles and a pickup truck full of
goods that we had colleted in Las Vegas. On the way, we
stopped in Kingman, AZ to meet up with some Legion
Riders who had collected 17 boxes of books and
magazines. Several of their members joined us for a
partial ride as we headed to our first overnight in
Florence, AZ wear we connected with the main body of OWW.
The amazing thing
about the American Legion is the friendships that we
make as we travel across the country. We were busy
stacking boxes into one of the trucks that hauled the
goods destined for BAMC when I heard a familiar voice
ask, “Is that Doc?” I turned around to find an old
friend, whom I met a whopping two months earlier at the
American Legacy Run at the national convention. Two
months doesn’t normally count when it comes to calling
someone an old friend, but with the Legion Rider family
of friends growing as fast as it is, two months is like
an eternity.
As we rolled across
the country, we picked up riders along the way, and by
the time we arrived in San Antonio, we had riders from
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and two riders who
came from Illinois just to join the effort. The Legion
Riders from Las Cruces, NM were a great help to our
mission. Besides joining us on the ride, the arranged
police escorts in Las Cruces and in El Paso, TX as well
as hosting an end-of-run party on the return trip.
For the most part,
we stayed tents in KOA campgrounds. The folks at the
KOA in Ft. Stockton, TX treated us better than anyone
could ask for, having BBQ ready for us both times we
stopped there. Why anyone would live in Ft. Stockton is
an unknown but if the folks at the KOA are any
indication, maybe it’s the friendliness of some good
folks in west Texas.
The last leg of the
trip into San Antonio was the most impressive, with 42
motorcycles, two rental trucks full of goods, and three
chase vehicles lumbering down the Interstate. For those
of you who have never been to west and south Texas, it
is a diverse environment, full of wildlife and other
wonders of nature. Heading down I-10, we encounter what
could be the title of a great horror movie, “Attack of
the Killer Mustard-Flavored Butterflies.” For some
unknown reason, millions of butterflies decided that
they wanted to do their annual mating dance in the air
at precisely the same moment that we came riding
through. What ever you learn in life, a truth of bikers
is this simple fact; don’t eat the green bugs, they
taste nasty.
Post 593 in
Converse, TX became our hosts while in the San Antonio
area. The graciousness of the people at the Post cannot
be overstated. Members of the Post, Auxiliary, SAL and
ALR took great care of us, providing dinner and
breakfast for us, as well as a place to stay for those
of us who decided not to get a motel room. They offered
to take us to their homes so we could take showers to
get the road grime off of us. They opened their hearts
to our cause. They even taught us a new game, called
Butt-Darts (don’t ask); a game that may one day become
the national ALR pastime (or maybe not).
But this trip really
isn’t about us; it’s about the troops and their families
at BAMC. It is hard to put on paper what a person can
only understand by taking part of this trip and meeting
these people. These are wounded warriors with
determination and outlooks that can’t be described by
words; men and women with more spirit than can be
imagined. It’s about the young Marine, whose face was
badly scarred, who went back to his room to put on his
uniform because he didn’t think he represented the Corps
well enough to us while sitting around in a T-shirt and
shorts. It’s about the Soldier who was heading home
with a missing arm, and hobbling on a crutch, but
looking forward to custom-built trike that he could ride
and control with his hooked-arm. It’s about the family
members who may indeed be the real heroes of the ordeals
their loved-ones have gone through.
Contrary to popular
belief, the troops who are actually in the hospital at
BAMC are in the minority. These are they ones who first
come home from war and need around the clock medical
care. Our efforts for OWW were not geared towards these
troops because they get everything they need while
laying in a hospital bed. OWW was geared to help the
troops who are on long-term medical hold and are
primarily being treated as outpatients. Once released
from the hospital, patients are moved into transient
quarters while awaiting permanent on-base, handicapped
accessible housing. They have no full-time care or
assistance, other than family members who come to help
them.
The goods we brought
to BAMC are controlled but the Soldiers and Family
Assistant Center, which is operated by volunteers and
donations only. There is no funding for the SFAC. The
SFAC is a place where those recuperating can come to use
the Internet, watch TV, read books and relax outside of
the 12x12 room they live in. The can pick up donated
items to help make their lives more comfortable. It is
a place where they make friends who themselves are
wounded and are in similar conditions as they.
It is also a place
where family members can go to get away from some of the
stresses placed on them because of the condition of
their sons or daughters, husbands or wives. That’s
right, family members.
As I stated, troops
discharged from the hospital do not have full-time
assistance. These are troops whose lives have been
changed forever; changes that require them to learn how
to do things they never imagined. How do you brush your
teeth if you have no arms? Or wipe your butt? Or put
on a pair of underwear? How do you shave your face when
each time you look in the mirror you see the scarred
face of a burn victim that used to have the face you
grew up with, and it makes you want to puke? How do you
learn to live your life again when life as you knew it
no longer exists?
The answer is a
family member that helps. Like the mother who has the
fortitude to get past the embarrassment of bathing her
21 year-old son, something she hadn’t done since this
now grown man, was a baby. Imagine having to help your
grown child go to the toilet. Or the father, who quit
his job, lost his house and went bankrupt, because
someone had to take care of his son. This is a man who
now lives in another 12x12 room and relies on his son’s
meager military salary to sustain them both. Or the
husband, who hasn’t been able to sleep with his wife
because she is still covered with gauze and bandages
that protect the skin graphs that will save her life,
yet sleeps on the floor next to her night after night
because he doesn’t want to stay alone at Fisher House.
What gives a person
the dedication to give up their life’s fortunes to help
another human being in such ways? Keep in mind that
these family members do not live in Texas; they are
there as long as their loved one needs the help, however
long that may be. It is simply the love of a child or
spouse that drives these truly amazing people.
The items we took to
BAMC help sustain their lives in small, but important
ways. The free bar of soap they get is $1.00 that they
don’t have to spend for that bar of soap elsewhere. The
free lap blankets that help amputees keep their stumps
warm also help them afford to buy their baby a new crib
because they don’t have to buy a blanket for
themselves. The audio books allow blind soldiers to
stimulate their minds. The lady’s makeup we took may
help a scarred woman feel just bit more beautiful again
when she looks in the mirror.
Some Final
Statistics
