Just Another Day
Last Thursday, I was told to be at the office early wearing business casual. I didn’t know that it was because I would be shadowing my Sergeant Major as she did a media prep for the medical evacuation team that saved the North Korean defector on November 13th. All I knew was I didn’t really have business casual clothes, which irritated and stressed me out.
But the bigger picture was not about me or my wardrobe.
If you don’t know what I am talking about (i.e, you live under a rock?), I am talking about the North Korean soldier that risked his life dashing for freedom into South Korea through the Joint Security Area at the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. He was shot five times, and the fact that he is alive and on the road to recovery is a miracle.
When I showed up to work Thursday morning, I had no idea I would spend my day with the group of heroes that made that miracle a reality.
Our mission as Eighth Army Public Affairs was to prepare them for a couple of interviews with reporters from both the Washington Post and Stars and Stripes. You can find the full story from the Washington Post here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korean-soldiers-survival-istruly-a-miracle-says-american-rescue-crew/2017/12/01/2595ee42-d5c3-11e7-9461-ba77d604373d_story.html?utm_term=.a92ca8990894
If you serve or have served in the military, it’s no secret that there is a lot of bullsh*t we have to wade through on a day to day basis. It can be maddeningly frustrating, and make you ask answerless questions that are better left unsaid. But the events that unfolded at the DMZ on November 13 made the reason we wear this uniform a lot more real.
This group of soldiers didn’t know they would save someone’s life that day. They especially didn’t know it would be the life of a North Korean defector whose story would make international news. The magnitude of the event amplified by the media, but sobered by their personal telling of it.
And I got to hear that story directly from the source, and be proud to wear the same uniform as people like them.
