I have a terrific sense of humor.
However, this is a thread about a person being killed on an overnight. I think a bit of respect and decorum is deserved.
During your time as a Medivac, did you tell the friends/family/co-workers of people you saw killed to "try no to be so sensitive"? I would hope not.
My "mod" comment was not aimed exclusively at you. It was made to ensure that this thread
will stay "classy", out of respect for a deceased fellow pilot. Not telling anyone "how" to grieve necessarily, just making a blanket statement to keep it classy.
Mmmkayy?
Nope... never met the kin of the deceased. We did, however, pick up a few patients that made me angry in general.
One day, we got a call, and a crew launched to pick up a guy who had kicked an unexploded piece of ordnance from a cluster bomb.
He was a quadruple amptutee. He was close, so our crew got there so fast that they hadn't even "packaged" him yet. He was four bloodied, semi-cauterized stumps and a good deal of shock.
We did our best for him, as did the docs at the forward trauma team, but he died.
We still remember "Bob". Even those of us that just saw the pictures can't forget him. We tried.
If you have to ask why we called him "Bob", well, you know. Just assume he liked to swim.
But why did we stick him with that moniker? Simple.
We laugh, that we might not cry.
To paraphrase Robert Heinlein:
That's why people laugh... because life hurts too much not to.
My brand of humor is harsh, but sometimes people need it.. and sometimes that's how people deal with death. Life is for the living- the dead have no further use for it, or for us, no matter what you believe happens to them.
Does my viewpoint make sense now?
When I die, I know there are people who will mourn my passing. I just hope they don't mourn long, though. I'd want them to live and be happy. It's what I want while I live, and that won't change because my funeral is the one party where I won't just wake up later with a hangover.
