Visiting Our Heroes

While I was in D.C., I was able to visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. I have been wanting to visit for a while now and I’m so glad that I was able to make it fit into our schedule this trip. If you aren’t familiar with WRNMMC, it is the nation’s largest and most renowned military medical center. In 2011, Walter Reed and the Naval Hospital joined forces to better care for our nation’s heroes.

Visiting patients in the hospital always pulls at my heart strings and I knew that this trip would probably do so even more. The facility is huge. I am so glad we had a tour guide to brief us on each patient before we walked into their room or tell us about the different floors and the needs they meet for their patients.

Each hospital room that I entered was very spacious and decorated with Christmas cheer. Each patient had their wife by their side. Each husband and wife had children. One in particular had just delivered twin girls 3 weeks prior. Another, had moved their children to Bethesda (across the country from where they were actually from) to enroll them in school there so that they could all be together. At that point, their father had been in the hospital for 3 months already. Another wife said that the hospital was now their home. Committing yourself to the military is not only an individual commitment, but also a family commitment. This was even more evident to me during my visit.

One thing for sure is that these brave men (and their families) adore our country. They defended our nation and us, yet they don’t hold a grudge as they learn how to cope with lost limbs or other severe injuries. They would do it all the same if they had to choose.

Always be grateful for your freedom.

Until the Mission is Complete,

Farabe’