Last week started out with a really cool experience for me. On Monday I got to do a tour for Sergeant Stephen Jackel and his wife. Sergeant Jackel is a Wounded Warrior from the US Army who lost his left leg during an explosion in Afghanistan. The Sergeant was riding in an armored vehicle which rolled over an IED, blowing up him and his men. During the chaos that followed the explosion, he found himself pinned by one leg with a fire starting inside the vehicle and most of his men unconscious. Ignoring the pain and position he was in, he used his free leg to stomp out the fire, preventing him and his soldiers from burning to death. While courageous and life-saving, this action cost him his leg, which had to be amputated due to severe burning. Now the Sergeant is part of the Wounded Warriors rehabilitation program at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He is doing remarkably well with his recovery, already walking again with a prosthetic leg. He said he was confined to a bed for about two weeks and then spent about a month in a wheelchair, but with the encouragement of his wife and five kids (yes, FIVE kids), he started to walk again and now gets around quite well with the use of a cane. I really enjoyed meeting Sergeant Jackel and his wife and hearing about his incredible story. He is a true American hero who has sacrificed for our freedom and it was a real blessing to meet him. Speaking to someone like him really puts things into perspective by adding a face to the heroes we hear about all the time. Actually meeting someone who has sacrificed a limb while fighting to save his men gives you an idea of just how brave our soldiers are and really makes you appreciate what they do for us and for each other.
What was really impressive to me, though, was how selfless the Sergeant was. While we were talking about his experience, he told me that he would go back in a heartbeat if he was able, saying that while he didn’t regret what happened to him and didn’t really feel handicapped, he did feel bad that our men are still fighting and dying and he’s not able to be there with them. That kind of dedication has to be admired. I was also really impressed that every time during the tour that we passed someone wearing a veteran’s hat from Vietnam or WWII, he would stop to shake that person’s hand and thank them for their service. At one point, we encountered a group of junior medical officers from the Army, Navy, and Air Force who were on a guided tour of the capital as part of an educational course. Recognizing his prosthetic leg, one of the Army Captains asked Sergeant Jackel where he served. He replied by telling him who he was and that he had served in Afghanistan before losing his leg. Each of the officers then came by to shake his hand and thank him for his service and sacrifice. He accepted each handshake, saying “Thank you, sir” and “Thank you, ma’am.” He also told them how appreciative he was of their jobs because it was the excellent medical care he received that saved his life and allowed him to keep his second leg. This interaction between him and the officers was really incredible to watch and really heartwarming. I was also overwhelmed when the Sergeant finished the tour and told me how thankful he was for me leading the tour. He said that seeing the Capitol Dome, the Statue of Freedom, and the chambers of each house of Congress was really a remarkable experience for him and put into perspective the things he fought for in the Army and the reason he lost his leg. No one could blame this man for resenting the military or the government for the fact that an increasingly unpopular war caused him to lose a leg and suffer through thousands of hours of rehabilitation and recovery. But there was not a bit of resentment or regret at all in Sergeant Jackel and he was instead filled with pride for his service and love for his country. I have given several tours of the US Capitol since coming to work here as an intern, and will give at least a few more before leaving in May, but I know that this one was absolutely the most special tour I will ever give. I’m really honored that I got to be a part of this remarkable soldier’s visit to the capital.On Thursday, the other interns and I were told to go to the Senate Chamber to watch a vote happen at 11:15 am. The vote was on a motion to invoke cloture on a bill which would end billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for oil companies. The bill had been blocked by a Republican led filibuster and a vote had been called to try and overturn the filibuster and dispose of the bill. We arrived in the gallery (feeling very important because we got to enter through a staff-only area on the opposite side of all the tourists there to watch) and took our seats in the gallery to watch the vote happen. After listening to a little bit of debate over the motion, the vote was finally called and senators began arriving to cast their votes. We watched as the senators made their way into the room, reported their vote to the clerk, and then began to talk and joke among each other. It was really interesting to me to see how civil and collegial the senators were with each other and how much they all got along. Even Senator McCain and Senator Kerry sat down next to each other and began to joke about something, talking and laughing together. It’s interesting to see how much politicians can talk about the opposing party in the media like they are an evil empire destroying America, yet then come together on the senate floor and behave like the best of friends. Seeing the voting process happen was pretty cool and in the end, the vote to invoke cloture failed 51-47, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overturn the filibuster. For now, oil companies will not see their taxes increase.
After a week that was mostly pretty boring and slow (except for the two events above), Friday finally brought the weekend and that meant it was finally time for soccer! FC Dallas happened to have DC United as an away game this year, which meant that I would get to see my home team play live at least once this spring. Even better, the Dallas game happened to be college night for DC United and we got discounted tickets! After work, I went home and changed, then met up with Chris and we headed out to the match. We took the subway to RFK Stadium and found our seats, excited to see the match. I hadn’t been to a live match in about 8 months, so I was really excited to see this one. Unfortunately, we didn’t see many Dallas supporters there. In fact, Chris and I were the only two Dallas fans on our side of the stadium and this earned us a lot of boos and calls to sit down whenever we would celebrate a great play or goal. We did see a few fans scattered throughout the stadium, but weren’t sitting close enough for them to be of any help to us, so we were left to contend with the DC fans all by ourselves. Fortunately, this wasn’t a soccer match in Europe and aside from some taunting and booing, the opposition supporters were actually pretty nice and talkative. We had a family with two little kids sitting right behind us and they had some really funny conversations about the game and the Dallas team which were amusing to listen too. Their dad was teaching them DC cheers and also teaching them to mock Kevin Hartman (Dallas’ goalkeeper), but you couldn’t help but love them even if they were on the wrong side. Unfortunately for us, the match didn’t turn out well. We went into the half tied 1-1, but everything went downhill from there. Hartman got injured making an incredible save, and we got nervous when he didn’t get up and in fact didn’t even move for about four minutes. Finally, he recovered and stayed in the game, but the injury obviously did something to his reflexes or awareness. DC rallied to score 3 goals in about a 10 minute time frame, and had taken a 4-1 lead with 15 minutes still to go. At this point, Chris and I bowed out, acknowledging defeat to our rowdy and excited neighbors and making an early start for the subway. As we were leaving the gates, we saw on the tv monitor that one of our players had received a red card and we were now down to 10 men. Really, the game couldn’t have gone any worse for us. Despite the awful performance, however, we still had a good time attending and seeing some live soccer.
Then on Saturday, I headed over to the Museum of American History with Chris and an intern from Florida who lives down the hall from us. The National Mall was packed with people and there were charter and school buses everywhere, parked at about five feet intervals the entire length of the mall. I’ve never seen so many school kids in one place and have come to realize that we are now in the heart of tourist season in DC. From here on out, I imagine that the National Mall and museums will be crowded every weekend. The cherry blossoms are beautiful, though, and I can see why so many people love to come see them. DC really is beautiful in the spring and I think this is probably the best time of year to be here. As for the American History Museum, I must say that I was extremely disappointed. The only thing I thought was really cool was the original American flag that flew over Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812 and inspired the Star Spangled Banner. The flag is huge (something like 30 by 42 feet) and housed inside of a very dark room in a massive glass chamber. It’s really cool to think about that flag actually flying over Ft. McHenry and being viewed by Francis Scott Key as he wrote the poem which became our national anthem. Other than the flag, there were several cool exhibits, but nothing that was extremely impressive. I guess I expected a lot more out of this museum, considering that it is our nation’s capital and you would think that American History would get more emphasis. This one doesn’t even come close to the Air & Space Museum or the Museum of Natural History and Overall, I was pretty disappointed with it.