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May all your wishes be granted.
May all the children be safe.
May all the soldiers be home by this time next year.
May all your debts be repaid.
May you know the love of a good man or woman.
May you know how important you are.
May your favorite team win.
May your hope become a dream which becomes you.
May you know what everyone that serves knows: we live in a blessed country with blessed people.
Happy New Year...
Colonel Hunt
Some of us went because we had never been around them. Some of us went because we know how it feels to be in a hospital in so much pain you want to die but are afraid to admit to it. Some of us went because they were asked.
We all went to see Soldiers and Marines who were missing parts of their bodies, parts they left in Iraq or Afghanistan and a couple who lost their parts in Viet Nam. Some were women how about that? All were doing mostly great and being treated like the kings and queens of the world that they are.
Walter Reed is a hospital in the heart of Washington where men and women are cared for, repaired, treated and sent home in as good a shape as they can be. Walter Reed is a hospital manned by wonderfully talented men and women, doctors, nurses, therapists and administrators who love soldiers and show it in the way they care for the most severely wounded.
We saw soldiers with their heads caved in, soldiers missing both legs, missing one arm, missing one arm and had one leg gone and one leg so infected they might that lose that one too. We saw happy soldiers, soldiers in pain, soldiers walking for the first time on a titanium leg and all of them--every brave one of them--want to go back to their units. Where do we find such men and women?
We saw Viet Nam vets who were there helping the Iraq and Afghan vets deal with their loss and their new life.
We laughed with them all, cried with a few, gave all we could find a gift--a sweat shirt, a hat, a book and a thank you.
We met parents, wives and girlfriends who will now have to care for these soldiers for a very long time--a price and burden of love seldom discussed.
We stayed for hours and wanted to stay longer. We hope we helped them; we know they helped us.
Merry Christmas guys, get well soon.
