The bomb

Tuesday 6 October 2009

One thing that has really surprised me about this deployment is that people are actually nicer to each other here than back “in the world.” Internists and surgeons practice together peaceably, nurses rarely seem to complain, and even administrators appear to grasp the big picture. It’s kind of a strange “cats and dogs living together in harmony” sort of thing. Given my suspicious nature, I assumed it must be just an introductory phenomenon, but it actually seems genuine.

I experienced another example of an unnecessary and undeserved act of kindness, today. My team was taken on a tour of the flight line, highlighting the Air Force jets. There are a number of cool jets and fighters, here. While my more jaded side wonders if they might be more valuable if the Taliban actually had an Air Force, I realize that they do fill an important strategic role. I won’t go into the lecture I received from my well-intentioned, but exasperated, USAF tour guide after I questioned the potency of Al Qaeda air-power. Despite the wide-eyed stare, I realized we were still friends when I was offered the opportunity to help the weapons section assemble a bomb. With a half-smile, I flashed back to the Oath of Hippocrates I had muttered so many years ago, “First, do no (bomb?)”

Sure, friend, why not? Then, again, is that a favor or an answer to my question?