Helicopter Ride

There was a special mission here with the American war ship Kearsarge. The embassy gave us the great opportunity to go and tour it. Being so big, and having certain rules, the boat had to stay afloat about 1 mile from shore or something. We drove to the Dominican air force base and rode these huge helicopters out to the boat and then had a fabulous tour. A storm came up and we were thinking maybe we would have to spend the night on the boat, but they decided to take us back to the navy base instead. We got to ride on these huge hauling boats that sit in the bottom back part of the war ship. The warship can sink its back half a little and then open up into the sea to load and unload things. That is where we went and were "unloaded into the sea." It was absolutely fascinating! I learned so much of our armed forces and the good they do. It was strictly a peace keeping, medical mission. They were able to be near Haiti when so much of the devastation had occurred and were able to take thousands of gallons of water and other supplies in these hauling boats. I happened to meet the Colonel on an airplane a few days later and he said it was such an awesome mission...that he was amazed at how humanitarian the young service people were. He mentioned it as being hopeful when we worry so much about the 20 something kids we have. I am definately proud to be American...even when not everything in our system is perfect. These service men and women sacrifice so much! Six months out, some in, and then out again. They were very kind and professional to us. One of the other really interesting things that we saw was their six operating rooms. The Kearsarge is a special medical boat that goes to different parts of the world to help other countries, but also our own troops. They had about 100 doctors working together from several countries doing dental and eye work for this specific mission. We asked the most common surgery and the chief surgeon said, "vasectomies and apendectomies." I had to make sure I understood right, so I asked if a vasectomy was what I thought it was. He said yes, they come to make sure they can have no more babies! I thought he was talking about the different countries that they serve, but he was talking about our own troops! On their was home they have the surgery or their wives, girlfriends don't want them back!!! I thought that was a little funny, but in actuality, incredibly sad. So complicated...Life is not easy, that is for sure. Hope you enjoy part of our experience!