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Post by torainfor on Sept 19, 2008 16:45:39 GMT -5
My husband, Tom is in charge of two yearly conferences at the Air Force Academy. The fall conference is just winding down. He has the formal dinner tonight and more casual events through tomorrow afternoon. He is also predicted to be within ten hours of a major stomach virus that already sent one guy to the hospital to get seven bags of fluid. He has his Phenergin, a bottle of Purell, and his game face, but he could sure use some prayers.
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Sept 22, 2008 10:37:10 GMT -5
How did it go?
Jeff
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Post by torainfor on Sept 22, 2008 11:16:58 GMT -5
He didn't get the flu, which is fantastic. He had one problem speaker who complained about EVERYTHING--including the toilet paper in billeting and the fact Tom wouldn't provide him with sunscreen. (Although, Tom did get him a rental car.) Today he'll drive another speaker and his wife to the Denver airport. This gentleman had a heart attack on Friday, then his kidneys failed. He's recovered well enough to travel home, though, so that's an answer to prayer. Most of the speakers were fantastic and gracious (including the one who told the complainer to "Quit your d*** b****ing.")
The conference was about Korea--from the war to now. I only got to listen to one speaker, a sergeant who fought in WWII and got out as soon as he'd earned enough points. A few years later, a buddy convinced him to join the Reserves to earn credit for retirement, I imagine. Within months the Korean War began, and he was one of the first there (Airborne!) Within three months, he was captured and held as a POW for 28 months. After a five-hundred mile forced march where they lost 300 of the original 500 men, the reached the camp. There he was beaten, interrogated, and starved. What he said saved him more than anything was the basketball court. The guards challenged them to games regularly--and won since they were in better shape--but he loved it.
I read your Firebrand book about the North Korean refugees just a couple of weeks ago. I had never really heard about the current conditions in North Korea. At the end of the dinner, a Major was taking down her display of photos and artifacts she'd apparently collected while stationed in South Korea. Someone else thanked her for bringing them. She said, "I just wanted people to see; this is the culture we saved." It was a really poignant moment for me.
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