"Sargent K" and "Simulated training"

Sargent K

had worked
with me
during my
first inmate
extraction
as a
prison nurse
he was
an iron
man older
but still
fast he
could talk
down even
the dangerous
state inmates
and if
it got
dangerous he
was who
you stood
behind he
retired last
year and
I hadn't
seem him
since but
yesterday
at the
hospital I
saw him
again
I was
having a
routine test
he smiled
when he
saw me
asked about
my kids
when I
asked him
what brought
him to
the hospital
he said
cancer treatments

it was
the only
time I
ever saw
him look
like he
was in
over his
head.

Simulated training

It was
a simulated
training exercise
set up
just like
a hospital
in Afghanistan

we were
training mock
casualty scenarios
usually involving
multiple victims
and enemy
fire it
was the
closest some
of these
navy Doctors
nurses and
corpsmen had
ever been
to working
down range

they all
agreed it
was valuable
training and
they now
felt ready
to do
the job
for real
if asked

having been
there in
2010 all
I can
think about
is how
much slower
everything
will move
when the
blood gets
on our
hands and
everything
gets slippery.