This morning I woke up before the alarm went off with a pressing need to get ready. I got up, showered, dressed, and began attending to Devon and Robbie. After they were dressed I went outside to start the cars and scrape the ice off of the windshield. After I dropped Devon off at school and Robbie at the Daycare, Renee and I headed to Lexington. We arrived at our destination and signed in. Although we only waited about 15 minutes, it seemed like an eternity. We finally got the call and went into the room. After all of the devices were turned on and Renee was in position we looked at the screen. All I could see was a little knot and a tiny flicker. The lady put the cursor on the flicker and tapped a button. I said, "What's that?" She smiled and said, "That is your baby's heartbeat."
Being an Officer...a Black one.....is sometimes hard. [Howard Rollins from "A Soldier's Story"] Sometimes being an Officer is difficult....not because of hard tasks, short timelines, or all of the worries involved in the care of your Soldier's, but the aura of professionalism and objectivity that you must display at all times. There have been many times that I have wanted to make a comment, yell, cuss at someone, or otherwise let my personal feelings be known about a subject, but unfortunately I could not because of my position. Let me tell you about two incidents that bothered me in particular. I was in Dallas Ft. Worth airport waiting to catch a flight on the last leg of my TDY trip to help a returning unit at Ft. Sill. As I went to my gate, I saw 4 Sailors in their black uniforms gathered at the gate...one was large and white, the other three were black. There was very little room, and many of them were standing intermingled with civilian airline passengers...