Friday, September 05, 2003

Reality intrudes on the surreal...

The past couple of days have been fairly hectic, and I've really only got to summarize. This is the second time I've posted this, because the first one got sent to the void when I hit publish... I've GOT to get into the habit of copying my posts before I publish, in case it dies mid-post...

ANYWAY...

Just to name a few of the events that have been going on here: Losing our satellite link sporadically, causing all manner of unhappiness for us. Our backup link not available due to a security key being inadvertantly destroyed. Siren testing for the entire area (all the different sirens: NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) attack, SCUD attack, industrial accident, etc). Discovery of a UXO (UneXploded Ordinance) in the area (there was talk of just exploding it, but didn't happen during my shift...). Can you imagine the uninformed person hearing the sirens and explosion? Never happened (to my knowledge), but I can just picture some poor guy in some remote corner of the port hearing all this...

Then, last night, there was a fatal accident on one of the ships. It was a TCN (third country national), and he worked on the loading docks. He had apparently unlashed a vehicle that was on a ramp, and was pinned between it and a 5-ton truck for a while before anyone found him.

This morning, at the morning briefing, as the details were related to day crew (most of them had already heard), I looked around at the assembled staff (all military), and couldn't help but feel a bit of wonder and awe. None of the people here had any responsibility in the accident, but I couldn't help but feel that everyone here felt responsible in some way. I doubt anyone here knew the man that died, but they each felt a sadness. It may seem like that's just human nature, but I couldn't help but wonder if the TCN's would feel that same sadness and responsibility if it had been a soldier that had died because of an accident. I'm not saying there's animosity between the locals. More like an "indifference". I could be wrong, but it's just the sense I get...

Anyway, I'm going to post this and get back to work. I just wanted to put this here while it was still fresh in my mind.

Take care of each other, love to all!

No comments: