In All Its Forms
If you send me a forward, 99 times out of 100 it’ll wind up in the trash, never having been opened. That’s just the way I roll. Today, my grandmother sent this newspaper clipping:
The caption reads:
Air Force Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, of the 332nd Expiditionary Medical Group at Balad, Iraq, cradles a young girl as they both sleep in the hospital. The girl’s entire family was executed by insurgents; the killers shot her in the head as well. The girl received treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, but cries and moans often. According to nurses at the facility, Gebhardt is the only one who can calm down the girl, so he has spent the last several nights holding her while they both sleep in a chair. [Photo courtesy of David W. Gilmore Jr. / U.S. Air Force]
It’s a picture of fatherhood: comfort and protection. It nearly brought me to tears, thinking of this girl’s pain and isolation, and of Gebhardt’s compassion. This is what it means to be a father.
I did a bit of snooping, and finally found the accompanying article in the Air Force Print News. The photo was taken last month, and Gebhardt is now home with his family:
‘”I got as much enjoyment out of it as the baby did,” he said. “I reflected on my own family and life and thought about how lucky I have been.”
…While deployed to Iraq, the chief tried to help out any way he could. He figured holding a baby that needed comforting that would free up one more set of arms that could be providing care to more critical patients.
“If I have an opportunity to help out, I look for that opportunity,” he said. “They had more than enough to do.”‘
Read more →
Air Force Link
Yet CNN gives headline coverage to a California couple having sex in a plane.
December 7th, 2006 at 1:48 am
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Teri
December 7th, 2006 at 2:02 am
[...] Say “Hi” To My Fellow Pressers December 7th, 2006 by Teri Stoddard Welcome Jared at All About Fatherhood and read a heart-warning story about Air Force Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt. [...]