Light and Dark - Another Sad Day

It’s a wonder how it is that things can be enjoyable and terrible at the same instant.  After 90 days I went on R&R (Rest and Recuperation) to Europe to see the family, take in the wonderful sites and eat good food.  The stress and urgency seem to melt away and things that would bother most seem petty compared to what is going on back at camp.  Yet, no sooner that two days after arriving that I get an urgent email.  A helicopter went down in camp killing five and wounding five others.  My staff was having our weekly meeting on the roof-top deck when it all happened.  The helo came in for a landing, as they do all day long, but this one departed slightly from the designated path, clipping the observation balloon tether.  The pilot struggled to keep the craft aloft and make it to the ball field landing site, but couldn’t.  The craft came barreling in, headed straight for the deck, sending my team running and diving for cover. By some fluke, it missed the deck and crashed on its side some 15 yards away against a blast wall. 

Fuel gushing out of the wreckage didn’t stop some from my team and many others from rushing to the scene.  Some helped secure the helo, switching off power as fuel gushed all around while others removed the wounded from the wreckage, getting them to the camp medics.  Those killed were equally tended to and laid out away from the wreckage.  Again, by some fluke, there was no fire, otherwise it would have been much worse.  To retrieve them all took over an hour.  Those killed were taken to a room and tended to by my Turkish Air Force roommate and his team who volunteered to prepare the bodies and tend to their personal effects. When in camp, you have only yourselves to tend to these things until help arrives many hours later.  If not for a few yards, I likely would not have much of a staff to come back to. All this was going on while I was having pasta overlooking the Roman Forum.