Months ago, I saw a documentary about the struggles faced by injured soldiers in the war in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the world after they return home. It gave me the seed for this little vignette.
I hope it makes sense, since I wrote it today, and have not taken a step back from the text that I need to spot all the issues.
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Nurse Maggie's Christmas tradition.
By Louise B.
She knew them all. She had been there from day one, before Doc, before Lifeline and almost everyone else. She knew them by name, real and code. She had seen Snake Eyes before the disfiguring accident. She knew little things about them all, like what kind of deodorant they used, and their favourite shaving gel. She also knew medical things, like who was allergic to what, who reacted badly to aesthetic and how to get them to take their medicine. And they knew her as Nurse Maggie. It was a code name, just as everyone else's, for her given name was not Margaret or anything close to it. Few remembered that it had started out as Nurse Naggy.
Nurse Maggie was a strong woman, helping the doctors keep the Joe in shape to fight COBRA. She had also been the driving force that helped the brass realise that the existing medical facilities were not enough to deal with all the injured, especially those requiring long term care. Two years after the instigation of G.I. Joe, in a remote corner of Nevada a large sprawling building was constructed and later named the Henry J. Mackenzie Rehabilitation and Long Term Care Center, Henry Mackenzie being the unfortunate first member of G.I. Joe needing the services of the center.
Nurse Maggie accompanied many injured men and women to the center. They had served their country, and had paid a high price, and she owned them her friendly presence as they entered a strange place. Some recovered enough to return to autonomous life. Very few returned to the army. Many remained in the care of the facility permanently.
The down side of the medical advances was that more people survived the brutal injuries they received in the line of duty. As good as the physicians had gotten at fixing broken bodies they could do little in fixing brains and spines. Most of the soldiers at Henry J. Mackenzie Rehabilitation and Long Term Care Center had sustained brain injuries that left them with reduced faculties and paralysis, while others had been left quadriplegic from spinal injuries. Many had no family able to take them in and care for them.
Nurse Maggie knew every one of them. She kept a little book with their names and little facts about them; food that they liked, brands of toiletries and other little things. Every year, she wrote the names on Christmas cards and set them on a large Christmas tree in the mess hall in the PIT. She made sure that every card got picked up by an able body Joe and got the items on the little Christmas list that was on it. In the card, Nurse Maggie would put the name of the soldier in the long term facility, a little something about what had happened to them, suggestions for tree gifts: something to eat, and item of clothing and a toiletry. She also made sure that the gifts got bought and properly wrapped. She got a Christmas stoking for every resident of the Mackenzie Center that she picked back up after the New Year for the following December. She stuffed the socks with the gifts and made sure everything was ready by Thanks Giving.
The week-end after Thanks Giving, Nurse Maggie coordinated with General Hawk so that everyone who had chosen a card was able to deliver his gifts to his fellow teammate that had been injured. It disturbed many Joes to see fellow teammates reduced to a vegetative state, drooling in wheelchairs, attached to respirators and catheters. They had all once been strong men and women good enough for the most elite team the U.S. Government had to offer. To any one reticent to go, General Hawk would say: "We don't leave our people behind in the field. We don't leave them behind in life." He personally went a few times a year to the center and spoke to each of the residents and he supported Nurse Maggie every way.
"Hey! Gong Ho, who do you have?" Shipwreck asked as he came to pick a card off the tree.
"Private John Higgins," the large man read off the card.
"I don't remember him," the sailor said frowning. "Do you Polly?" The parrot just looked at him, tilting it's hear this way and that.
"I do," Gong Ho said. "He was the kid that kept carrying a case of Coca Cola around. I remember BeachHead having him carry one through the obstacle course."
"Oh, Yeah! Now I place him. Once, he had snuck a can into a HISS thank, it had gotten so hot that it had exploded, made quite the mess. Cover Girl had been really pissed off because it had made everything so sticky." Shipwreck said chuckling. "What is on his wish list? A case of Coca Cola?"
"No, there is no food on this list. I guess he can't have any." He shrugged and read it out loud: "boxers with the Coca Cola logo, Old Spice Sports deodorant (the blue stick) and Gillette gel shaving cream."
"Do you remember what happened him?" Shipwreck asked.
Gong Ho shook his head. "Who did you get?"
"Private Nicolas Greenshaw." He thought for a moment, going through all the greenshirts he remembered working with. "I got no idea who he is. You?"
Gong-Ho shook his head. "Maybe seeing him will trigger some memory. What is on his list?"
"Lays BBQ chips, wool socks, Irish Spring soap. I am going into town to get this tomorrow, do you want to come along?"
"Yeah. Sure. When do you go to the center?"
"December 15th, I think," said Shipwreck. "You?"
"I am going next week."
Both men set of, to leave room for others to come and get a card. Some picked a random card off the tree, while others looked for someone they had known. Some pooled together to get the gifts on the list, for thankfully there were a lot more soldiers in the services than at the Mackenzie Center. Shopping trips were arranged and with just a little coaxing from Nurse Maggie, everything was ready for the first visit. She personally wrote out a Christmas card for each residence of the Mackenzie Center, which she had Hawk, Duke, Flint and BeachHead sign.
When the time for the visits came, Nurse Maggie went with each group, ensuring that they had the right Christmas stockings and gifts. She gave them a tour of the facility and presented them to resident that they had chosen.
Gong Ho found Private Higgins in a bed by a sunny window. His eyes were half lidded. His mouth was slightly open and a small trickle of drool glistened at the left corner of his lips. He had a scar from the corner of his left eye that went up into the hair which had been neatly combed. A ventilator, by the bed, made a soft wishing sound. He wore grey sweatpants, and a cotton buttoned up shirt. Someone had obviously taken care to dress him for company.
"Err, Hi," said Gong Ho a little uncertain what to say. He'd been part of the visit the year before, and like the previous year, Nurse Maggie had briefed them on what to do. "I don't know if you remember me, I am Gong Ho."
"Act normal around them," Nurse Maggie hand instructed the gift bearing Joes. "Greet them and tell them who you are. If they can't unwrap the gifts, do it for them. Place the items in their hands. Let them smell the soaps and deodorants. Most important of all, talk to them about anything; the weather, funny things that have happened at the PIT, the news, sports."
The visits were usually about half an hour. In retrospect, it was not very long, especially when this was one of less than a hand full of visits some of the veterans got every year. Those who were able to, expressed how much they appreciated the visits. Nurse Maggie got many letters and cards of thanks.
For all the G.I. Joes who visited, they often left conflicted. On one hand, it was a shocking reminder of how fragile to human body was. For many, it made them more determined to train harder to reduce the chance of something like that happening to them. On the other hand they were reassured that if they did become residences of Henry J. Mackenzie Rehabilitation and Long Term Care Center, someone would remember them and make their Christmas a little brighter. However, most important of all, it left them with the warm feeling that they had help spread a little Christmas cheer. It was the best Christmas gift, most of the G.I. Joes without immediate family, would get. This good feeling brought them back to the tree the next year, no matter how uncomfortable they were during the visit.