Lightening

On the occasion of Veteran’s day I present another rip roaring yarn of daring-do along the Vietnamese DMZ in 1968.

The photo shows the tent where I spent the night, played cards, waited out monsoons, listened to the Fifth Dimension, or fantasized about the models in the Sears catalog. 

Notice the outhouse in the background and the volley ball net to the left. This is the scene of our action.

As one is sometimes want, I entered the outhouse with one thing on my mind. As I was peacefully enthroned, minding my own business, a loud ear splitting CRACK!  rang out.

Incoming! I screamed to myself as I did the pants-around-the- ankles Penguin walk to dive into the ditch placed handily nearby for just such an occasion. 

“Hmmm, OK, I’m not hit but wait a minute – that was sure loud . I’ve been shelled several times and that didn’t really sound like a rocket or artillery explosion. What the hell was it?” I slowly stood up to survey my surroundings and red dirt clods started falling from the sky. Oops! Back into the ditch!

I heard raucous hollering and saw men standing outside their hootches pointing to my right. I followed their gaze and saw the volley ball net’s post had been shattered into toothpicks. Same thing happened to a tree in my Gramma’s yard so I readily  figured out what had happened.

A lightening strike was the cause of my discomfiture. Hey, I was alive , right? I even had to join in the laughing..

 

Writing this reminded me of another lightening story.

I was notified that one of my men was being choppered  to the base “hospital” after suffering a lightening strike while standing next to a Duster.  The antenna had attracted the attention of a lonely lightening bolt and whammo! My man went down.

I remember being scared to death they were bringing a dead body. I was impressed at how quickly the stretcher bearers got him from the chopper and on to the emergency gurney. The staff had his clothes cut of in just seconds. He was breathing but not fully awake. With the quick look I was allowed I saw no burns on his body but noticed the strangest thing. His pubic hair was burned. How interesting.

I had never seen such a thing, and after 24 years working as an RN in Critical Care and sometime in the ER, I’ve never seen it since. As I recall he returned to duty none the worse for wear.

Note to self find pix