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MikeTangas · #15 03-02-2006, 09:32 PM

Mission accomplished!

The hardest part of the mission was convincing a restuarant that does not offer carryout to cook me a steak to go. Having never been to DC I had no idea of where the closest decent steak was in relation to Walter Reed Army Hospital. Fortunately for me I had eaten the night before in the Rosslyn area and looking at the map found that to be about 1/2 way via the gerbil tubes (the map lies).

The Orleans came through. I called to preorder, so the food would be ready to roll but was instantly shut down by the person who answered. We danced around a minute or two and I asked to speak with the manager. Explained the situation to him and we were good to go. I aksed him to start cooking in 15 minutes to time it close to my arrival. When I arrived I asked for the manager, he came to the front desk with the meal in hand. Due to his going out of his way to help me I was going to tip him well but to my surprise he refused to accept the tip.

Back into the gerbil tubes. As the crow flies, we were probably at the 1/2 point but via gerbil tubes it was a 45 minute trip, then a 1/2 mile hump to the Medical Center. Every minute of the trek was worth it. Even getting "talked to" by the Metro station manager because you aren't allowed to eat food on the trains and having a freshly grilled steak in a pie pan made it look like I was going to eat. Another explaination and all was good. The 1/2 mile hump was another story, thought I was gonna get jumped for the steak by a panhandler at one point. But the steak and I arrived intact, with the steak still palatably warm.

When I walked into this soldier's hospital room at first he was a little suspicious of me (I would be), but soon as I told him I'd heard he was hungry for some real food his eye's lit up and he broke into a big ass grin. I let him know I was a friend of his brother and and all was good. We talked a bit and eventually the talk turned to his injuries. Long story short, he'll be there for at least another month with a couple more surgeries then the real recovery begins. Due to the nature of the injury he was without a conventional cast, to promote healing and drainage, but his leg is contained in an erector set. His wound makes my gunshot wound look like a pinprick. When it was time to leave, he thanked me for the meal, I told him there was no thanks necessary as it was my honor to thank him for his service.

When I entered the hospital I had no idea what to expect. I had visions of hospital scenes from old WWII movies, plus my Dad's descriptions of the WWII field hospitals he was treated in, so I had that mental picture. Once inside I was awed by the care the wounded troops receive. Nowadays the wounded warriors get private rooms and a nursing staff that dote on them.

Don't believe everything your hear on the news, the volunteer army does have the drive. This young troop, although wounded and in obvious pain, told me he couldn't wait until he was healed enough to lace up his boots and get back to the fight.

I'm hoping for an extended TDY to DC. If he is out of the hospital and still Stateside when I get there I know a nice little Irish pub where they serve a 23 ounce Kilkenny Red. I'll be honored to buy him a beer.