Haiti: this is why I serve

Commentary by Capt. Nathan D. Broshear
12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) Public Affairs

2/23/2010 – PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — I’m often asked why I choose to be in the Air Force. Some people ask to start up conversation, others to be polite, and some genuinely wonder what compels Airmen to swear to support and defend the Constitution, put themselves in harm’s way and deploy far from home.

Most people who ask are looking for a one-word answer. They expect you’ll simply say: adventure or flying, travel, education or some other military benefit.

Usually, after about 20 seconds of explanation their eyes turn glossy as you struggle to capture the essence of what you do and why you do it – all without using military jargon.

I’ve been in Haiti since January and I know when I return, people will ask me, “What did you see there? Are we really helping?” The answer to these questions is really the same answer to the question, “Why are you in the Air Force?”

I’ve learned service has rewards greater than any paycheck, trip abroad or educational degree. In it exist opportunities to be where others cannot, to stand where others will not, and to do what people would do if only they could be where you are.

The rewards of serving aren’t one-word answers; they’re the tiny snapshots of humanity, dignity and kindness playing over and over in the minds of Airmen who’ve “been there.”

These scenes of hope replay in my mind each night as I lie down to sleep in my tent:

Airmen download thousands of pounds of life-saving food and water from aircraft that don’t even shut off their engines. They’re done in minutes and begin working on the next aircraft – 24 hours a day — so far, more than 3,000 times.

I hug a Haitian man as he tells me, “Without you, I would be dead … thank you, America.” I see the man again a few days later and he greets me like we’ve known each other for years. All he asks is for me to take a picture with him – not for him to keep, but so I can take the picture home with me and tell others his story.

An Air Force nurse cries with a patient recovering in a clinic, not from pain, but because they would soon part. Later, the whole ward — every patient with life-threatening injuries–sings together while nurses dance for them.

People come together for the greater good. Airmen unload airplanes from Venezuela, China, Qatar, France, Brazil, Chile, Australia, Colombia, Nicaragua, and dozens more. They salute every aircrew as they depart, no matter what flag is on the jet’s tail.

I stare in wonder at owls flying across a full flight line at 1 a.m. A private jet pulls in, full of volunteers. They ask, “Where’s the nearest hotel?” I point to a few tents and cots in the grass next to the tarmac. They sleep outside and don’t mind a bit.

I hold a baby born just after the earthquake on board a Navy hospital ship. The mother lost one leg and sustained multiple other injuries after debris fell on her, yet the baby is healthy…and all mom wants to talk about is how happy she is to be home again.

A family huddles under a tarp held up by sticks on a median between traffic lanes. They’re cooking rice and beans from a huge sack marked “A gift from the people of the United States of America.” They look up, smile and give us a big “thumbs-up” as we drive by.

I hear my family on the phone saying, “I’m proud of you….”

I give an MRE to someone who’s never had one, and likely hasn’t eaten all day.

When the first commercial flight arrives in Port-au-Prince, Haitian families reunite a month after the earthquake. Tears of joy stream down their faces as they embrace.

A group of Airmen get off a transport airplane carrying their bags after traveling for an entire day. They’ve got every right to rest, but just hours later, they’re building tents, marshalling aircraft, mapping food distribution points and driving earthmovers….all 700 of them.

A nurse tells me about a Haitian baby boy born on board the U.S.S. Carl
Vinson….the mother names him “Vincent.”

A woman stands atop the mountain of rubble that was once her home. She points out where she and her son were when the earthquake hit, then explains how a fallen door miraculously protected them from harm. There’s a hole in the rocks, just big enough to crawl through, marking their exit from death. The woman calls the escape, “God’s hand.”

When I return home and I’m asked why I serve, I’ll struggle to communicate the sights and sounds of hope that come with the privilege of being an Airman. My storytelling will fall short of putting a person where I’ve been.

I won’t be able to conjure up the sensory signals of mutual respect, trust and compassion that come from being there when you’re most needed.

Why do I serve? The one-word answer: Haiti.

Capt. Nathan Broshear

On each show, you might hear me sipping a Starbucks Frappucino in the background. It seems that in California, where some gun owners’ civil rights activists are demonstrating for freedom to get concealed carry permits by open-carrying unloaded handguns in public, a chain of upscale coffee shops called Peet’s banned the practice. The open carry advocates moved to a local Starbucks, which welcomed them and their guns, stating that their policy is that Starbucks coffee shops will cleave to the letter of the law. All RIGHT!

The Brady Bunch have a website where outraged anti-gunners can register mass protest against Starbucks’ policy, and implore them to ban guns in their shops. Might be a good idea for folks from our side to let Starbucks know that we appreciate their respect of American law and individual freedoms. The link for that is HERE.

Now, I’m not normally an habitué of Starbucks. I have an unhealthy fear of being called a Yuppie. (The last time someone called me a Yuppie, I was so shocked I spilled my Perrier on my Reeboks.) But ya just gotta support a company that supports gun owners’ rights, even though Paul Helmke and some of the rest of the gun-banning crowd seem to be wetting their panties over Starbucks’ policy.

So, what the heck, see if a nice latte from Starbucks goes down well with a discussion of why individual citizens’ access to firearms is a civil rights issue and a personal safety issue.

Besides, if you listen to me talk on either night, you’ll probably need some caffeine to stay awake, anyway.

Here, Mas open carries in a Starbucks in Arizona. Note that no one seems to care. Pistol is a SIG P226 9mm in an LFI Concealment Rig by Ted Blocker.

The unnatural buying frenzy that followed the election of President Obama is waning in terms of guns, but is still absolutely in effect insofar as ammunition. While the ammo shortage has let up a little, I don’t see it getting a whole lot better any time soon.

Overall, the attitude of the buyers – the retailers who make up most of the attendees – was optimistic. Most of the vendors I spoke with were very happy with the volume of orders they wrote at the show.

The currents that drive markets are sometimes as obvious as the post-2008-election purchasing panic, and sometimes more subtle. An example: tons of folks bought their first AR15s or similar rifles during that period. Now we’re seeing a smaller but very real second wave of purchasing. The guy who bought his first AR last year takes his buddy, his brother-in-law, or his next door neighbor to the range with him when he goes to shoot it…and the guest realizes this is a pretty neat gun, and decides to buy one, too. We’re also seeing a generation of War On Terror vets coming back proud and confident of the skills they’ve developed with the M16 and M4, and want a similar semiautomatic version, the AR15, for reasons that include protecting their family. Hence, this year’s SHOT Show theme of “AR = America’s Rifle.”

I first heard the “America’s Rifle” term from my colleague, Chris Christian, who used it in one of the many articles he has written for the publications of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which sponsors the SHOT Show. Everyone was fed up with the assumption that “AR” stood for “assault rifle,” a much demonized term in the American mainstream media. Actually, my understanding is that “AR”originally stood for Armalite, the company AR15 inventor Eugene Stoner originally formed to manufacture this rifle before Colt bought in to the concept and gave it some very long legs. Once it became the standard rifle of US armed forces, of course, “AR” was locked into firearms terminology forever.  Back in the day, my good friend Rich Davis proposed that the AR15 be called a “Home Defense Rifle.” Unfortunately, that didn’t catch on. Some suggested calling it a Sports Utility Rifle; I guess if you had one in a large caliber and lived in the hills of California, you could call it a “Big SUR.” That didn’t catch on, either.  Maybe “America’s Rifle” WILL grow legs. I hope so. Thank you, Chris Christian.

The day after the Show, I wound down at a Glock match at the Las Vegas Metro Police range. Met a lot of great people, many of them cops, and was delighted to see how many LVMPD officers had volunteered to run the range the department opened to this largely private citizen event. After all, law enforcement and law-abiding armed citizens are natural allies. It was a great match (check out the format at www.gssfonline.com; there’s probably one within striking distance of you if you want to give it a try), with lots of fine people attending.

I can’t think of a better way to wrap up an intense week in the world of the gun.

Remington’s introduction of their R-15 has done much to “legitimize” the AR15 as a hunting and sporting rifle in the US.

Arrow points to ejected spent casing as this young gun brother shoots the Glock match at the Las Vegas Metro Police range the day after the close of the Show. It was a great way to wrap up a week in “the world of gundom.”

Chris Christian, the gun writer and firearms expert who, to the best of Mas’ knowledge, coined the term “AR stands for America’s Rifle.”