A Win for the U.S.

This morning was a good morning, the paving contractors two employees are still in the hospital here on base. I visited them earlier this week and they are doing well. Late yesterday the contractor's project manager called to ask about bringing one of their fathers to visit. I did not get the call and remembered this morning that the hospital does not allow visitors on the weekends.

The Afghani's don't have the same understanding of weekends as we do and did not comprehend even though I told the project manager this last weekend when he wanted to visit his employees. So, I took him to the hospital and we both went in to ask. I got the answer I expected, which was no, but he can come in on Monday. So, we got a visitor pass for Monday and took it to the gate where the father was waiting.

When I saw him, he looked like what you would picture of one of the village elders. Probably not as old as he looked with his gray beard and white head dress, but old. Then I found out he had come down from Kabul to visit his son and would not be able to come back on Monday. I asked the army personnel at the gate to call the hospital and ask if they would change the date on the pass and let him visit today. Again, the answer was no.

So, I decided to go ask in person and further explain the situation. I drove back to the hospital and went in by myself this time, leaving the contractor in the vehicle. After explaining the situation and agreeing to stay with the father, myself, while he visited, they relented and agreed to let him come in. Back to the gate to pick him up and bring him to the hospital.

On the way there, the father, who does not speak or understand English, told me through the project manager, that he now knows the meaning of American humanity. Then when we got to the hospital and he had a chance to talk with his son, he told us that he now knew who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. Up to this point he was not certain that the US was the good side. The Taliban tried to kill his son and the US hospital staff saved his life.

That was a pretty good feeling to hear him say that and to see him smiling and talking with his son.

The other patient, the contractor's cook, is doing very well and they are talking about sending him home tomorrow. I think he kind of likes it in the hospital as he said he was not ready to leave. He was up and walking around the ward when we got there and he came over and sat down with us while the father and son visited. He still has a long road to full recovery as they had to cut his chest bone open, horizontally (clamshell like), to repair the hole in his heart sack from the schrapnel. He will be carrying around that piece of schrapnel the rest of his life, it was too close to the heart to be removed. It'll be 6-8 weeks before the bone is healed. They call him their miracle patient.