Long Bus Trip, Interesting People
By Christopher Blackwell

Going to the Tucson VA hospital for my second appointment this month, I got taught a lesson about my other duties outside of the Pagan community that were nevertheless my duty as a Wiccan. Both going and coming back proved a lot more interesting than I would have expected on a tiring Greyhound bus trip of over 200 miles each way.

On my trip I met a recently retired Air Force colonel. I listened to him talk about being shot down in Afghanistan. I mentioned some experiences in Vietnam but mostly just let him talk. It was what he needed. He told me that he no longer will ever fly on a plane, figured he used up his luck.

He bailed out and was shot in the neck on his way down. But fortunately there was a nearby helicopter to kill off the people firing on him. He was unconscious by the time he was picked up and it was touch and go while he was in the hospital in Germany with him in a coma for couple months once and then back into a coma. They did not get much information to the wife and at first she thought he was dead when two military people showed up at her house.

But she went through some military friends and got the necessary information and went to the airport to fly to Germany. But she ended up giving birth in the airport to their new daughter, so that held her back a couple of months. He remained in a coma.

She got to the hospital the second try and got him out of the coma by smuggling his two month old baby daughter into his room against doctor's orders and laying the child on his chest. It brought him right out of the coma as nothing else could. Talk about following gut feelings. He was quite proud of her for how she brought him back. Her guts deserved his pride.

I spent the day in Tucson doing my appointment and then wandering around the town, taking in some old and new haunts. I went back to the bus station next morning.

On my trip back I sat down next to a new Marine who had just finished boot camp and was going home for a visit before starting his new training routine. He slept through much of the trip and we did not talk until the last 80 miles. We compared boot camp experiences.

Then I talked about war and fear in both bravery and cowardliness and explained that he would not be trusted at first in the war zone until everyone saw how he handled himself, but that was normal for seasoned vets and he would do the same as a seasoned vet himself.

Told him a dead Marine was not worth much, a wounded Marine would tie up two of his buddies and interfere with their fighting, so his main duty was to stay alive so he could kick ass and try to stay away from bullets and exploding things.

I wished him good officers, ones that would know when to follow the book and when to ignore the book and suggested he develop his gut feelings to protect his ass and his buddies' asses. Told him the military is not a democracy, but he would develop a strong appreciation for democracy by the time he was done.

Explained some basics that I thought might be useful to a new guy, also joked with him what was going to be his family's reaction the first time he tried out his new cussing vocabulary, even accidentally, at meal time.

Stayed away from politics though he was not a Bush fan. I pointed out that as a Marine he did not have the luxury of saying anything against his Commander in Chief till he got back out of the Marines four years from now. I told him why I wouldn't talk to him about politics. I told him he would develop his own opinions even if he could not talk about it until he was a civilian.

Then I told him he would be changed and that he would come back to a world where everyone else had not changed so that he would be somewhat out of sync but he would have to work that out when he got back. He would bury a lot of stuff but afterward he would have to find people who would listen to his stories and understand. It was much like coming home from a long hospital stay, or a long prison stay, he would have to find other vets who would be able to listen to what many people would not want to hear. But he would have to talk out his experiences so they would not poison him for the rest of his life.

I just told the straight scoop. He is signed up for four years, so he has to do it and get through the best he can.