Back To Reality

Well I’ve had a few weeks to adjust back to the real world - things like cold temperatures, traffic, work - and I thought I’d put together some final thoughts about Wake, as well as finally get around to posting some photos.
Temperature – that was really an adjustment at first. I’ve had the experience of going south for a week in the winter and coming back to the cold reality, but after 6 weeks it was really a shock. I think I’m almost ready for winter now.
People – it was funny for the first few days getting used to seeing people you didn’t recognize and know. And no one waves back.
Patients – there are sick people all over the place here. No wonder I can make a living doing this.
Almost nobody has ever heard of Wake, unless they are from the WWII generation. Sometimes after I explain a little they think they have heard about it. A few people saw the History Channel show about the return of the Wake defenders to the Island a few years ago.
It’s amazing to think how much money our government spends keeping that one little island more or less functioning, and then to realize that there are dozens (actually probably hundreds) of similar installations all around the world that require similar expenditure. It makes it easier to understand how our government manages to spend TRILLIONS of dollars, if not why.
I still can’t imagine people spending years out there, but then I guess if you don’t have a family it is a good place to jump in and be part of one. It really is the “Island of Lost Boys” in a lot of ways.
People ask me if I would go back. I think I would actually enjoy it every now and then, but not for 6 weeks; that was just a little too long for me. I don’t think Nora would think much of the idea either.
Overall it was an interesting and enjoyable experience, if not professionally challenging. I had an opportunity to think about the priorities in an isolated facility like that and how it should be organized, not that those are likely to be major issues for me in the future. The Thais I met were universally warm and friendly, polite to a fault, great people to be around. If you don’t mind being totally separated from the opposite sex you can spend time in a tropical paradise and get paid for it. It was a pretty sweet deal for me.

I am going to try to keep up with the blog, for a while, see how well it works as a way of keeping in touch with people.You're all still welcome to comment as you see fit. I am glad to be home and hope to be actually speaking with folks but maybe this will fill in the gaps. God knows we have to find something to do with the time we used to spend watching football.