Seymour Johnson NCO inspires many

  • Published
  • By Chaplain (Capt.) Christine Blice-Baum
  • Office of the Chief of Chaplains
BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFPN) --  In November, I accompanied my boss, Chief of Chaplains Maj. Gen. Charles Baldwin, to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where he would speak at a command chaplain’s conference.

After reviewing the itinerary, I noticed the conference planners had included a block of free time.

Most likely, this time was intended to help us adjust to the time change and recover from any jet lag, but instead General Baldwin and I decided to visit some of the wounded troops at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. The LRMC is the largest American military hospital outside of the United States and is the first stop for many of the troops who have been wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On our way to the LRMC, we were greeted by Chaplain (Capt.) Erik Harp, an Air Force chaplain assigned to the hospital. He took us to the intensive care unit where many wounded troops are brought to be stabilized before being transported to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. or the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

One man, Tech. Sgt. Simon Wess, an Airman with the 4th Civil Engineer Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., had just been brought in. He was breathing through a tube and was very, very sick. We were told that Sergeant Wess had acute respiratory distress syndrome, a type of pneumonia.

General Baldwin and I spent some time with Sergeant Wess’ family and prayed with him. He tried desperately to communicate something to General Baldwin. With the breathing tube in place, we weren’t able to make out what he was saying.

General Baldwin turned to Sergeant Wess’ father and handed him one of his Chief of Chaplains coins -- a tradition among military leaders who want to honor someone by “coining” them for doing something special.

“Here, keep this for Sergeant Wess,” General Baldwin said. “Let him know how much we appreciate what he has done for our country.”

As we were leaving the room, one of the nurses said Sergeant Wess was so sick he would likely die. That was why his family had been called to his side.
We were able to visit with several more Airmen, many who were wounded and literally fighting for their lives, but the image of Sergeant Wess really stuck with the general, and he spoke about him often after the visit and wondered how he was doing.

General Baldwin speaks to hundreds of people every week and spends time at the Pentagon making Air Force policy decisions, but his main concern remained with that one Airman lying on his potential deathbed in Germany.

We kept in touch with Captain Harp at the LRMC, and about a week later, we learned Sergeant Wess had made a miraculous recovery and had been moved to Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

I called Sergeant Wess’ room, and his wife answered the phone. She put her husband on, and I heard a strong and happy voice on the other end of the line. I shared this call with General Baldwin, and his face immediately lit up.

"We need to go see him," he said.

The following Friday, General Baldwin and I drove to Andrews.

Instead of an Airman fighting for his life, we saw Sergeant Wess stand up to greet us. He was well on his way back to health and simply waiting for the doctor’s permission to go home.

As we concluded the visit, I slipped a coin to General Baldwin.

“Why don’t you give him a coin again -- this time he will remember it.”

As Sergeant Wess received the coin, he held it in his hands and told us about how his father had stayed every night in his hospital room in Germany looking after him.

When his father showed him the original coin he had said to his father, “Dad, you stayed here with me, caring for me and cleaning out my breathing tube, you keep the coin. You deserve it.”

As we left Andrews that Friday afternoon and headed back to the world of strategic-level leadership, I knew that with all the highly important things we do every day, this was really the most important thing we had done in quite awhile.

Since then, Sergeant Wess has returned home to Seymour Johnson AFB and will be finishing his recovery.

“I can tell that I am getting stronger every day,” he said. “My family and I are so appreciative of everyone’s thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

His wife feels the same.

“The base and everyone involved has just been amazing,” she said. “We had been married for less than a year when this happened, and the base really looked out for us in every way.”