I have mentioned this particular event in previous notes to you. Somalia, 1992. Operation Restore Hope.
Starvation is leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. The United States comes to the rescue. The Air Force is dispatched by President George H.W. Bush in August to fly food and water into the interior sections of Somalia. Later the Army and Marines are needed.
War lords are ruling the country. And they are all very well armed. There is little electricity. Phone service is almost non-existent. And people are continuing to die. A poor country.
Dyess sends C-130's and personnel to Africa for the mission. Air crews, maintainers, medical. Just about everyone at one time or another. My trip there was just before Christmas '92. The Dyess planes were already there, so I flew in the back of a C-141 to Newfoundland, Germany, Egypt and then Mombasa, Kenya. That's where the Dyess people were working. Flying missions up the Indian Ocean coast to Mogadishu, Somalia, and air strips around the bone dry countryside.
This is brought vividly to mind, as KTAB's Katherine Lane reports on her mission with Dyess C-130's to help in the Haiti disaster. "Riding in the back, feet propped on a Humvee, the web seats, no windows." For military men and women, that kind of transport is common. For civilians used to windows, reclining seats, and maybe even peanuts, it is a big adjustment.
My 141 had the same accoutrements.... web seats along each side of the plane, a couple of small windows providing no light, heavy equipment as cargo chained down in the middle, little room to walk around, and lots of noise. A 747 it was not. But military cargo aircraft are not designed for creature comforts. They're to get equipment and personnel to where they need to be.
For a reporter traveling half way around the world to Africa, or a couple thousand miles to Haiti, the thrill of getting the story helps you overlook the discomfort. I know the military has to do that all of the time. It's part of the job.
I remember the fine folks who got me there and back, and those who were away from their families Christmas 1992, helping people who needed help. I was gone for only two weeks. The Dyess folks much longer.
It makes me appreciate the sacrifices of those who represent our nation by wearing a uniform, and their families. I salute you.
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Great blog Bob! Proud to be your co-anchor:)
ReplyDeleteDear Bob, I watched you from 1978 and have enjoyed all the different things you have done in you reporting. I raised 4 children, two as male athletes & two girls in different competions and all in band, and UIL academic events. Then, I watched them send 10 of the 14 of my grandchildren though that same school, the one I graduated from, Jim Ned High. I have seen my brothers and sisters and neices and nephews and now my great-grandchildren go to Jim Ned. I saw yesterday and again tonight the "haircut or school" issue and I considered all the dress codes and rules adhering my parents and I have trained our children through. As a substitute teacher for almost 40 years, I crave dress codes and rules for classrooms. The parents who say "OH, I want my child to be himself and do as he pleases so he can feel good and independent" are lying to themselves and their child. If they do not teach their child to follow the rules made by all and for all, they are failing their child. The child will suffer all his days if his parents do not teach him to obey the rules and that he is not an exception. If the school principal believes the child's hair is a distraction for others or is not conforming to the rules of classroom dresscode, the parent should immediately train the child that he should follow the rules, to do otherwise is to train up an "outsider" or a rebellious personality that sooner or later will only hurt the child!!
ReplyDeleteI have watched as young children are left out of things because they don't know the word "NO" or follow rules, or have seen older children who think laws don't apply to them be arrested for vandalism. Parents who train their children to "express themselves" whether it is out of the rules or boundries are setting their children up to harm others as well as themselves. All children are only loaned to us, they came from God and are HIS, and like the lesson of the talents, we should do everything in our power to raise them in love and consideration of his plan. Training to circumvent rules and rise up for our own selfish expression is wrong, what is all 25 in the class came to class any way they wanted???
How much education can be given if everyone does their own thing there. If the rule is "hair to the top of the shirt collar, and no sideburns below the ear lobe" (as Jim Ned's book says) then everyone should do the same!!
The cleaner and more dressed up the class, the better behaved, and with a good "outside" image the child keeps a higher self "inside" image and strives for disciplined achievment. The rule every mom gives her daughter is "if you look good, you smile, people smile back and that makes you feel good and you have a better, more effective day!" That parent is dead wrong in your news, she just missed a parenting moment for an 8 inch long piece of straggling on the base of a neck!!!!!!! Hair can grow in the summer, school rules and authority should have been respected, that child is NOT the only one there, and should not be an exception!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!