It is difficult to use the word "final" in a text without envisioning morbid thoughts of death and destruction. In light of the war in Iraq that has taken so many of our young military personnel away from home and their families, and for many, caused loss of life, that word is suitable.
Losing young airmen volunteers in the Tax Program Office to overseas assignments, was an inevitable dominoe falling my way. However, I was not prepared for my own fall, as it came in May, 2003 while visiting my daughters in Chicago for Mother's Day. (See SECONDS page).
Four months have passed since my open heart surgery on June 3, 2003 that repaired a valve and a bypass heart artery. It is the eve of Halloween, as I write this last and final entry into my AIR FORCE DIARY. I am grateful to God for my many blessings that have brought me nearly to full recovery.
The wartime atmosphere on Bolling Air Force Base will always be a poignant reminiscence in my mind. I've had the providence to meet some of the Tuskegee Airmen. Received gracious acclaimations from the Air Force for my work as the Tax Office Director...and got stuck in the building elevator after hours. Getting lost on Virginia's and Maryland's winding roads will always be a subject of my nightmares.
I have mixed emotions concerning the readiness of our militia to successfully wage a war against such a tenacious enemy as that we have in Iraq; and under a government as wishy-washy as that in our Capitol today. Be that, as it may, my prayers are for our victorious end to this war and terrorist siege. May God bless and save us all. |
