Monday, April 15, 2013

Women Warriors

This is an article that will appear in the Las Vegas Voice, which features a story from my Mom, about her time as a Captain in the USAF during Vietnam at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
_____________________________________________________

June 2013     LV Voice             Military Nurses                   Women Warriors

Nursing and the military go back to the dawn of civilization. As soon as society realized that soldiers fight harder and better if they know they will receive medical care, nurses have marched to war with soldiers. In the time of the crusades they were almost entirely part of religious orders. The Catholic Church even had a special order of monks (Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem) who provided medical assistance to travelers. These were probably the first military nurses in recorded history. In the U.S. nurses have a long and remarkable history of aiding the military from the Indian Wars to modern day conflicts.
Today we’re going to hear from a retired USAF nurse, Captain Judy Uebbing.  She began her career, along with her husband Don, at Clark Air Base in the Philippine Islands. Clark Air Base was also home to a tribe of aboriginal peoples referred to as Negritos. These aboriginal people had assisted General MacArthur during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. After the Bataan March in which so many Americans perished, General MacArthur guaranteed the Negritos a settlement on Clark Air Base in gratitude for their bravery and warfare skills.
The Negritos had their own culture and government. Since all of them had tuberculosis, when they needed hospitalization, they were placed in Isolation. It was during such a hospitalation of a young Negrito named Manny that Captain Uebbing experienced one of the most challenging and frightening events of her career.  In her own words she describes what happened.
“Captain Uebbing-Captain Uebbing” came the calls in the silence of the 3a.m. hospital corridors. “Help.” I ran to the private room from where the calls originated. There was an empty bed, two frantic corpsmen and a young male patient on the fourth floor ledge. Young Manny was a Negrito, a Phillipine who lived on Clark Air Base grounds with the rest of his tribe. Because he had abdominal pain, he had been admitted to Clark Hospital where I served in the USAF. Oh swell, I thought, another crisis. When Manny woke up in a foreign room in a hospital, he was frightened and homesick for his people. His only way to return, he thought, was to escape by the window. Oh Dear! As I said we were on the fourth floor. My only solution, as I saw it, was to go out on the ledge with Manny and coax him back into his room. I had never been all that crazy about heights but there were no volunteers stepping up to the plate, so out I went. After a few minutes of concealing the abject terror in my voice, and speaking softly and gently, I was able to convince Manny to return to his room. Success!! He chose to sleep on the floor which was fine with me.
I loved serving in the USAF and am proud to be a veteran.”
___________________________________________________

War, raising me, two bouts with cancer... My Mom is one tough broad.