Answering the Call
Thursday, March 29 2007
Answering the call
Army Chaplain Jim Brisson
At 9:30 a.m. on March 5, Jim Brisson got a call on his cell phone: 6 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division had been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. As one of the top chaplains at Fort Bragg, it was his job to begin coordinating the teams that would deliver the news to the soldiers' families.
Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, Chaplain Brisson has knocked on plenty of doors. He talks with Dick about what it's like to bring news of a soldier's death to a family. He says young wives often react with shock. For Chaplain Brisson, it's often hardest to talk to the parents - the moms and dads who are about his age.
You put yourself in that situation and you say, "Wow, I would be very angry as well…some of the hopes and dreams that you had in your children are not going to be realized now." There's very little that you can say. Your presence is probably more important than your words.
-Chaplain Jim Brisson
Listener Follow Up - Leaving U.S. Health Care
Janet Chui and Jason Lundberg
Last week, we replayed a conversation Dick had with Tom Hiland about Tom's decision to undergo heart surgery in India. Jason Lundberg and Janet Chui heard the original interview, and afterwards Jason wrote in.
My wife is from Singapore, and moved to North Carolina two and a half years ago so that we could start our lives as a married couple. Last year, she was diagnosed with endometriosis… after all of the bills were in, we paid somewhere around $5,000; we estimated that without insurance, it would have been over $16,000. About six weeks ago, we visited Singapore…my wife went to a gynecologist for a checkup, since it was far cheaper than an appointment in the US, and she found out that her cysts had come back. This time, we didn't have insurance; my wife was now freelancing, and I was working part-time at 2 separate jobs. At that point, we made the very difficult decision to move to Singapore.
-Jason Lundberg
Jason and Janet talk to Dick just a few days before their scheduled departure to Singapore.
- Read Janet's chronicle of her ordeal
- Keep up with Jason as he adjusts to life as an expat
