Days 1, 2 & 3: Illness and Orphans
March 31, 2008 | South to Santiago
SANTIAGO, Chile — In case you’re wondering, it takes 10 hours and four minutes to fly from Fort Worth, Texas to Santiago, Chile, nonstop on a modified 707 better known as a KC-135. It took me a little less than three hours after that to get sick and be bedridden for a day. But I’ll come back to that.
My first full day of work started today at FIDAE 2008, an international air show here. There are scads of international generals, admirals and civilians of power from one soft chair to the next. The weather could not have been more perfect and inside the air show, things seemed to be well organized. The time change is actually one hour ahead of East Coast time and the night we arrived, Chile actually fell back an hour, so we all got some extra sleep.
So, the work day. That included a photo opportunity with the under secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs (Bruce Lemkin), and a visit to a local orphanage. The first was a fairly passe event. Mr. Lemkin’s intent was to speak with one of the myriad American aircrews here for this event. And the crews seemed to enjoy having him there. He did what he did and on his way we went.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at a local orphange. We drove about 30 minutes from the Airport to get there. We were met and given a tour. And we started playing with the kids almost immediately. As you can see, my feats of strength were put to the test immediately (First photo). The group included members of the F-15E Strike Eagle Demonstration Team and the Arizona Air National Guard. In addition, four members of the Air National Guard Band of the Central States played a short set.
The group had lunch in the “homes” of the orphans and then handed out gifts like Beany Babies, Girl Scout Cookies and more. The goal of the visits is outreach — to show the U.S. cares about its friends, like Chile. We probably accomplished that if stuffing children full of Girl Scout cookies and giing them toys does. :) I think so.
Oh. and these are the kids. Cute, huh?
Anyway, you’ll be seeing photos like this on your military news wires tomorrow. Run, don’t walk and tell a friend!
Meanwhile, back to my illness. After getting off the plane, I began feeling a little disoriented. Had the chills. Now, I knew I had been awake, for the most part, since Friday morning at 6:30 a.m. or so. That put me past the 40 hour point without more than about three hours of sleep. So, we go to dinner. However, about midway through, I REALLY felt the chills, so I left. When I got back to the room, bound myself up in covers and tried to ride it out.
Unfortunately, I started vomiting and having diaherria. I was shaking. In really bad shape. Worse, I only slept about two hours that night. The next day, I could barely get out of bed. I “called in” sick and later had a doc come visit. Very kind, she thought I might have been dehydrated or caught something from the water. I wasn’t sure. Either way, she gave me a few meds, I stayed in bed all day Sunday — and that’s where Days 1 and 2 went.
I felt a tad better this morning, but anything was better than staying in bed all day again (except for the occasional “Inspector Morse” episode, in English, no less). So, I hauled out of bed, grabbed my gear and rode it out. At about 3 p.m., I felt a hell of a lot better and think the worst of it had passed.
So, there’s the inglorious first three days, two of which went by the wayside for me. 
Tomorrow promises a litany of good things. And if you have a firewire adaptor and 4-pin to 4-pin cable, find a FedEx and send it my way.
