By Melanie Moore — 79th Medical Wing
Have you realized how lucky we are to work and play on Joint Base Andrews? I am a girl who grew up in the Mississippi Delta with nothing to do but watch the pine trees grow and the Katzu fight to take over the cotton fields, and the biggest celebrity we came into close proximity with was our mayor.
If the people from my hometown could see what happens here they would be in awe. Just yesterday on the way to the airfield I discovered we had a ramp freeze so the President of the United States could leave. How exciting it was to sit there and wait while the president walked up the steps and went some place wonderful. What some would say was an inconvenience to me was extremely exciting. It was better than watching the news.
Then I proceeded to go get my government vehicle so I could pick up a video crew at Virginia Gate. I had to pass by all these beautiful “new” homes, and the school bus was stopping at every street corner. All of these cute little kids were waving to their friends and hoping and skipping to their new homes. It reminded me that we are not just a work area. We are a community!
Then I arrived at the Golf Course. Everyone there was having the time of their life. It was a beautiful day and the golf balls were flying. No one there had anything but a smile on their face.
When I got the team to the airfield to set up for our photo shoot of the wounded warrior mission, I saw this strange formation coming my way. At first it looked like little birds flying in a “V” formation. I had never seen anything like that. The closer they got to the airfield the more I realized it wasn’t black birds like I saw back home. No. It was the Navy Blue Angels who blew by in a formation and did a mini air show of maneuvers in the sky before they broke up and landed one by one. I am sure they were getting ready for the Naval Academy Graduation. Do you know how grand it was to watch something like that? No one else was there! It was like having my own little private air show. Anyone at the airfield could have watched it.
Later that night, as I walked through the hanger on the airField to go home, I had a big surprise. Normally, it is just an empty hangar, but there sat the biggest white and blue airplane that said “United States of America” on the side. It was just so exciting to be that close to it. I got goose bumps.
When I got in my car to commute an hour to get home, I realized, we are really lucky to work on Joint Base Andrews. You never know what you might see. It reminded me to stop and smell the roses. Or, in our case, the diesel fuel. For those of you that live here, ask yourself, “How lucky are we?”
