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Writer's Block: More than words
Jul. 7th, 2010 02:45 pm[Error: unknown template qotd] There are a lot, but the two that come to mind right off the bat:
Lee Greenwood's "Born to Be an American".
The night before my unit deployed to the Gulf back in 1990, we had a 'nursing unit gathering' at one of the rec centers. Not everyone came, which in some ways was good. We were a 1000 bed general hospital with a staffing of around 375 folks assigned to nursing. To meet those numbers we had to pull from other units from pretty much everywhere and many of us had never met before this week. As the evening came to a close, the finial piece the DJ played was 'Born to Be an American'. Little groups began to form all throughout the room, merging into bigger and bigger groups. And with arms around each other's shoulders we started singing along. This disparate groups of people, brought together from all parts of the US West Coast, came together as one - at least for those few moments.
Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
We'd been in country for a couple of days and things were still pretty quiet. It was still 'Operation Desert Shield' and hadn't transformed into 'Operation Desert Storm' quite yet. I was up in my 3rd floor billets room doing a pile of paperwork with the window open trying to catch whatever breeze there might be. And then I heard a faint voice singing. I couldn't make out the words so I went to the window and hung my head out and heard somewhere down below in the quadrangle between the four buildings we were housed in singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Over the next minute another voice joined in, and then another. And then everyone in the quad was singing.
So here we were, this collection of young and old, all who had taken 'The King's Schilling' and answered the call when it came for them to deploy, getting ready to face an unknown war, singing one of the premier anti-war songs of the '60's. But not singing in anger, not with malice, just gently and softly and with the hope that nothing would happen, no one would be harmed and we could all go home to our lives and loved ones. As strange as it may sound, at that moment, it wasn't a song of protest, but one of hope.
Two very simple songs that captured all the feelings of those few months in '90-'91.
Lee Greenwood's "Born to Be an American".
The night before my unit deployed to the Gulf back in 1990, we had a 'nursing unit gathering' at one of the rec centers. Not everyone came, which in some ways was good. We were a 1000 bed general hospital with a staffing of around 375 folks assigned to nursing. To meet those numbers we had to pull from other units from pretty much everywhere and many of us had never met before this week. As the evening came to a close, the finial piece the DJ played was 'Born to Be an American'. Little groups began to form all throughout the room, merging into bigger and bigger groups. And with arms around each other's shoulders we started singing along. This disparate groups of people, brought together from all parts of the US West Coast, came together as one - at least for those few moments.
Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
We'd been in country for a couple of days and things were still pretty quiet. It was still 'Operation Desert Shield' and hadn't transformed into 'Operation Desert Storm' quite yet. I was up in my 3rd floor billets room doing a pile of paperwork with the window open trying to catch whatever breeze there might be. And then I heard a faint voice singing. I couldn't make out the words so I went to the window and hung my head out and heard somewhere down below in the quadrangle between the four buildings we were housed in singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Over the next minute another voice joined in, and then another. And then everyone in the quad was singing.
So here we were, this collection of young and old, all who had taken 'The King's Schilling' and answered the call when it came for them to deploy, getting ready to face an unknown war, singing one of the premier anti-war songs of the '60's. But not singing in anger, not with malice, just gently and softly and with the hope that nothing would happen, no one would be harmed and we could all go home to our lives and loved ones. As strange as it may sound, at that moment, it wasn't a song of protest, but one of hope.
Two very simple songs that captured all the feelings of those few months in '90-'91.
