Read to Me Forever

Green Valley High School, Green Valley, Wyoming April 1998

Jennifer Cochran tried hard to pay attention to her teacher, Mr. Schmedly, as he wrote out the solution to the algebra problem on the whiteboard. She couldn’t help but smile at his hair. The man tried very hard to present a professional appearance. It just never worked for him. He should get some help from Eric Walsh. Her preference for staring at Eric rather than Mr. Schmedly was based totally on how cute Eric was. Whether he would go on to be the star quarterback on the football team was still up for debate. The fact that he was the hottest guy in school had been totally decided.

As the bell rang, Mr. Schmedly began handing out the graded quiz results from yesterday. Mr. Schmedly had written in bold red letters across her paper, “YOUR WORK IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL YOU FIND THE VALUE OF X!” Why couldn’t all her classes be as enjoyable as her English literature class!

Hurrying to her locker she tossed the hated algebra book inside. Jennifer unceremoniously slammed her locker and headed to the girls’ locker room to change for her extracurricular project at the local hospital. Mom would be waiting in the parking lot. A few minutes later Jennifer, now clad in white pants and a bright red and white striped shirt hopped into her mom’s car.

Wallace Hospital, Green Valley, Wyoming April 1998

The trip from her school to Wallace Hospital was only about four miles. Nonetheless, Jennifer’s mom was able to work in a plethora of questions to Jennifer about her day at school. When that subject was satisfied, Mom changed to her second most overused subject on these trips—how much she liked being a Candy Striper when she was a girl. Candy Stripers had been a fixture at Wallace Hospital for decades. Long ago, a head nurse named Miss Agnes Rose Lumberton thought young girls could be helpful at the hospital. She had gone so far as to write up a code of ethics as to why Candy Stripers must always smile, be neat, helpful, and encourage patients while they recuperated. They would deliver flowers, mail, magazines, books, or run errands within the hospital. Sometimes, they were asked to sit and read the newspaper or a book from the library to a patient. That was the part Jennifer enjoyed most.

Arriving at the hospital, Jennifer checked in with the nurse supervisor on the third floor. She liked being assigned to the third floor because she got to meet a wide variety of patients. During her previous shift, she had spent most of her time talking sports with a soon-to-be father who was absolutely going bananas awaiting the delivery of his first child. When the nurse had asked if he wanted to be present during delivery, his wife, already well into labor, nearly hurt herself laughing. Regaining her composure, the soon-to-be mom said, “I think it best if he stays in the waiting room.” Wiped out with nervousness, ‘Future Dad ‘could only nod affirmatively. Fortunately, Mrs. Future Dad’ cooperated and delivered their son in less than three hours. When Jennifer left, Mom, baby, and even Dad were all fine.

One of the nurses on shift, smiled when she saw Jennifer. “Jen, could you check in on the gentlemen in Room 319? He came in last night and had surgery for a badly broken arm this morning.” Her smile broadening, “And he’s about your age and kind of cute.”

Jennifer was a little anxious walking down the hall to room 319 and relieved to find the door ajar. Cautiously sticking her head inside, she saw a handsome young man with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. His right arm was covered with a heavy cast. Looking tired but alert the young man turned his head and met Jennifer’s eyes. Momentarily stunned by a face that was about as handsome as any she had ever seen, Jennifer eventually forced out the words, “Hi, I’m Jennifer. I was asked to check on you to see if you needed anything.” An equally stunned Dustin Porter was eventually able to stammer out, “Uh sure. You look a little young to be a nurse.” Jennifer laughed, “I’m not a nurse, I’m a Candy Striper. I help here every couple of weeks for an extracurricular school project.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” said Dustin. “What all do you do?”

“I run errands; sometimes I read to patients. I take patients to get tests done. How did you break your arm?”

“I was out on my mountain bike, coming down an awesome hill, when this huge bull elk jumped in front of me on the trail and totally wiped me out.”

“Wow,” said Jennifer.

“Yeah, it would have been awesome if I hadn’t broken my arm,” said Dustin.

“Well, the doctors here are great. You’ll be riding again before you know it. Can I get you anything?” Jennifer asked while thinking, boy is he cute!

“Maybe something to read, a book or a magazine,” said Dustin enjoying the view. Wow she sure has a beautiful face.

“Of course, I’ll see what the library has and be right back.” Jennifer walked down to the small library that was stocked with donated books and magazines. Fortunately, Mrs. Annabelle Smith was working today in her never-ending effort to bring some organization to the library.

“Mrs. Smith, do you have anything to read for a guy about 17 years old?” asked Jennifer.

“What does he like?” asked the octogenarian.

“Well, he likes mountain biking, but I doubt that you have anything on that,” replied Jennifer.

“No, I don’t,” said Mrs. Smith, but let me think. Slowly, Mrs. Smith’s face began to brighten as if an idea was illuminating her mind. She walked down to one of the shelves that unlike the others, was well organized and reached for a book on the top shelf. “Take him this one Jennifer, it was one of my late husband’s favorites.”

“What’s it about?” Jennifer inquired.

“It’s about one of America’s greatest generals in World War II. He’ll like it; I guarantee it.”

A few minutes later Jennifer returned to Dustin’s room with Mrs. Smith’s recommended book. “What did you get?” asked Dustin.

“It’s called, A Soldier’s Story by General Omar Bradley.”

A quizzical look crossed Dustin’s face but then a smile. “Sounds great! “Uh, I only have one working arm, would you read a little to me, please?” Jennifer read until her mother, waiting in the parking lot, had paged her three times telling her to hurry.

When Jennifer returned to the hospital for her next shift, two weeks later, Dustin had been discharged. The nurse who had asked Jennifer to check on Dustin told her that he wouldn’t be back for a follow-up. He was from out of town. The next time that Jennifer was in the library, she asked Mrs. Smith if A Soldier’s Story had been returned. “No,” said Mrs. Smith. “A very nice young man with a broken arm who was being discharged came down and asked if he could take it with him. I gave it to him.”

Martin Army Community Hospital, Fort Benning, Georgia July 2003

Jennifer walked up the steps to her assigned nurses’ station on the third floor. She wasn’t sure why she always seemed to wind up on the third floor, but it seemed to be lucky for her. She had enjoyed her six weeks working in Fort Benning’s hospital as part of the Army’s Nurse Intern Program. She had learned a great deal working with the Army doctors and nurses and developed a better understanding of what the Army was all about.

Jennifer was going over the charts when her beeper went off signaling an incoming Army MEDEVAC helicopter. Upon arrival of helicopters with injured personnel, Jennifer was on a team whose job was to have the medical gurney available at the helipad. A second beeper message stated the requirement for another gurney and notified a second team. Racing down the steps to the exit leading to the helipad, Jennifer grabbed the gurney, medical backpack, and headed toward the helipad where she was soon joined by other MEDEVAC support team members. They didn’t have to wait long before hearing the very distinctive sound of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.

The Blackhawk landed and shut down and the Crew Chief immediately hopped out and signaled the teams forward to the helicopter. As they moved forward, Jennifer saw a soldier with his right arm in a sling ease himself from the helicopter with the help of the Crew Chief. He stood near the helicopter while Gurney Team #2 removed a stretcher from the helicopter, strapped it to the gurney and headed to the Emergency Room. As the gurney left, the soldier wearing the sling grabbed the soldier on the gurney and got in his face. Jennifer couldn’t hear what he said but the smile on the soldier’s face convinced Jennifer that it was words of encouragement. Good soldier thought Jennifer. In the profession of healing people, encouragement is a good thing.

Jennifer’s team helped the soldier onto the gurney and headed to the Emergency Room. Enroute Jennifer got her first good look at the young soldier’s face. Something looked familiar. Once in the ER, the medical personnel assigned there took over and transferred the soldier to an examining table and removed the sling. Jennifer had turned away and was preparing to leave the ER when she overheard the nurse who was cutting off the sleeve of the soldier’s shirt. “Wow Cadet, that’s quite a set of scars you have on that arm. How did that happen?”

“A huge bull elk totally wiped him off his mountain bike,” said Jennifer. The young cadet, turned and stared.

“A Soldier’s Story?” Dustin asked. Jennifer nodded.

After leaving the hospital in Green Valley, Wyoming with A Soldier’s Story in hand, Dustin returned to his home in Idaho. His trip to Green Valley was during his week of Spring Break to visit his aunt and uncle while his mother and father took a second honeymoon to Paris. Dustin’s arm, broken in three places, healed well after the surgery. Dustin was eager to retain his position on his high school football team come fall and a quarterback needed a functioning throwing arm. In his eagerness to make it back to football, the beautiful girl he met in the hospital had slipped from his memory. The same was not true, however, about the book that she had picked up for him. Dustin became enthralled with A Soldier’s Story and the life of General Omar Bradley; so much so that the dream of attending the United States Military Academy at West Point became the focus of the young man.

Had the world around them been patient, Dustin and Jennifer could have sat in the Emergency Room and chatted for hours, but such was not the case. Dustin needed a small cast for a fracture to his forearm, and Jennifer was being paged to return to her duties on the third floor. Mrs. O’Grady needed to use the bedpan.

Also, an Army Colonel and a Command Sergeant Major had just arrived to speak with Dustin. The ER was getting a bit crowded.

Dustin was at Fort Benning attending the Army’s Airborne School which required him to make five parachute jumps to earn the coveted silver wings of an Army paratrooper. Dustin’s fifth jump had gone fine but a jumper who had exited the aircraft after Dustin, had a chute that failed to open--his worthless chute streaming above him like a giant ribbon. Dustin grabbed the streaming ribbon and held it knowing that turning loose would mean his fellow jumper crashing to the ground.

Dustin left the following day to return to West Point without having the opportunity to see Jennifer. When the cadet that Dustin saved returned to West Point, he tracked down Dustin and gave him a gift from Jennifer--a book entitled Once An Eagle by Anton Myrer.

Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan March 2007

Army Lieutenant Jennifer Cochran finished a busy twelve-hour shift at Bagram’s Combat Support Hospital. It was not a case of American wounded needing emergency assistance but a case of the hospital providing support to the many allies that supported the effort to bring human rights and freedom to the people of Afghanistan. Her day included assisting in an emergency appendectomy, x-raying and then taping the ankle of a young soldier; vaccinating 26 individuals for the flu; and helping deliver a set of twins born to a young Afghani girl. According to the translator who assisted, one would be named after the doctor who delivered, and one would be named after Jennifer. All in all, not a bad day’s work—the Afghanistan version of “Grey’s Anatomy.” As Jenniefer walked back to her quarters, she thought a nice warm shower followed by a snack from the care package she had received from her parents was exactly what she needed. Less than a half hour later, she was sound asleep.

Jennifer had gotten most of a good night’s sleep when the Code RED alarm sounded. Out of her bed in seconds, she pulled on her BDUs including her flak vest and Kelvar helmet and reached into her locker to grab her pistol. In under four minutes she was out the door running to the helipad where the Army MEDEVAC helicopter’s rotor blades were already turning. Getting a thumbs up from the Crew Chief, Jennifer jumped in and immediately began checking to ensure all required medical equipment was on board. Satisfied that it was, she strapped into her seat just as the other assigned medical personnel arrived and strapped in.

Ninety seconds later, the helicopter was airborne following two other Blackhawks, each loaded with eight infantry soldiers. Twenty-seven minutes later, the three birds found their objective--a crashed Army CH47 supply helicopter. The downed pilots had popped up green smoke signaling the all clear for the rescue bird to land but the intelligence watch had radioed that enemy combatants were known to be in the area. With the Blackhawks carrying the infantry soldiers flying overwatch, the decision was made for the MEDEVAC helicopter to land and pick up the four friendlies on the ground as quickly as possible. The MEDEVAC bird landed about 30 yards from the CH-47. The Crew Chief was immediately on the ground signaling for the four soldiers to board the MEDEVAC bird. The mission was running smoothly when the downed CH-47 erupted in flames. Enemy forces were known for being horribly inaccurate with their missiles, but if you shoot enough of them—even a blind squirrel finds an acorn occasionally.

Three of the four soldiers who had been jogging to the MEDEVAC bird were fine but the fourth had been knocked down by the force of the explosion. Unbuckling her seat belt, Jennifer was out and running toward the soldier in seconds. The man lay face down and was not moving but appeared to have no wounds. Knowing that time was of the essence and that the enemy was likely to fire more missiles, Jennifer yanked the now semiconscious soldier to his feet and pulled him toward the waiting Blackhawk. With help from the Crew Chief, Jennifer lifted the soldier onto the bird and immediately the pilot moved the Blackhawk forward and began to ascend. Another explosion followed; the MEDEVAC bird shook violently but continued flying. A deep hole made by a second missile marked the spot where the MEDEVAC bird had sat seconds before. The soldier that Jennifer had helped into the bird was examined by another medic on board. Jennifer strapped herself in and closed her eyes—realizing what had just happened was all too close to a catastrophe.

Safely back at the base, Jennifer and the other members of the MEDEVAC team were going through their mission debriefing when a senior medical officer walked in. “Lieutenant Cochran as soon as you are available there is a soldier that would like to speak to you. He said that you picked him up off the ground and threw him on a helicopter. He also asked if you would bring one of your books and read it to him.”

As far as romantic places in the world, Bagram Air Force Base ranks somewhat below Paris, France. There is no Eiffel Tower near which lovers can engage in passionate and memorable kisses. There is a communications tower but one might not want to stand near it as it is a frequent target of enemy missiles. A quiet candlelight dinner for two is hard to come by. The dining facility on Bagram seats over 400 soldiers at every meal. Forget about sharing a nice bottle of wine. Alcoholic beverages are off limits for military personnel.

Nonetheless, over the next six months love found a way. Whenever they were not on duty, Jennifer and Dustin were pretty much inseparable. One night in the rose garden near the chapel the couple were enjoying the stars and a beautiful full moon. “Jennifer, the day we met in the hospital in Wyoming you read to me; I never repaid the favor.”

Jennifer smiled, “You mean you want to read to me?”

“Yes, I do,” replied Dustin. “Right here, right now.”

“Ok.” said Jennifer. “Go ahead.”

Pulling out a small flashlight and a sheet of paper, Dustin began to read,

“I will never forget the day a beautiful girl came to my hospital room and read to me. My hope is that for the rest of our lives we can read to and care for each other.”

And that is where she stopped him. He got down on one knee and placed the ring on her finger.