Our oldest son, Kyle, enlisted in the Army, 82nd Airborne Division, on a delayed
basis, in June of 1990. He left for basic training 12 days after high school
graduation in June 1991. When he was going to jump school at Ft. Benning in
Columbus, Georgia, he had one bad practice jump. A fellow landed on his canopy
and they both hit the ground hard from about 50 ft. Up. Neither was hurt badly,
but Kyle’s hip was bruised.
Not wishing to get too far behind he cajoled the doctor to clearing him to go
back to jump school to complete his practice jumps and get his wings. He was
still hurting. For some reason, he was late for the bus that transported the
trainees to the airstrip where the transport plane awaited them. Rather than
chew2 him out, his drill sergeant drove him to the strip. When he got arrived
there wasn’t a field pack for him to jump with, like they always did, so he had
the good fortune to jump without an 80 pound pack on his back. His good luck was
made complete by landing in the only really soft portion of the entire landing
zone.
Fast forward to Egypt, a year later. He was serving with his unit in an
observation and resupply function in the Sinai Desert, overseeing the truce. One
day they were taking supplies to one of the distant outposts and stopped for a
bit of shade beneath a rock outcropping, there being little or no vegetation in
the Sinai. He sat down under one rock where there was room for two and
immediately was very uncomfortable where he sat, not from sitting on a stone or
hot sand, but like something was telling him to move. He moved over like a
person would move from one seat to the next one in a movie theater and another
fellow sat down where Kyle had been. At that precise moment, a piece of the rock
fell down and killed the other fellow. I know that is a tragic circumstance, but
Kyle was not supposed to die there and then. I know God provided for the dead
soldier’s family.
Richard Coleman drjekyll@hazleton.net
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