Upon reflection, it’s ironic.
I am one of the lucky few who work full time for Team Rubicon. I am a training associate and I help create training material for our volunteers. Sometimes, I get to write fun stuff, like chainsaw guides and rope safety guides. Sometimes, the work seems a little more mundane.The guide on how to tarp a roof seemed especially mundane.
Then we were in Tanauan. On a roof, whilst below me, my teammates worked at fever pitch pace, alongside doctors, they sewed together horrendous wounds and delivered new born life into a world of filth.
Volunteers Chris Wharton and Breaux Burns tarp the roof of a field hospital in Tanauan during Operation: Seabird.
In the midst of the suffering, they patched up bodies and souls and gave hope to all who watched them. My battle buddy and I had to tarp the roof above them. We knew they needed a respite from the rain, needed a more sterile workplace. We worked hard and long to try to give them one.
“We knew they needed a respite from the rain, needed a more sterile workplace. We worked hard and long to try to give them one.”
And somewhere in that two-day period, I realized that everything we train for has a real-world application, 15 feet below us was a world that was as real as it gets.
I am proud to serve with these heroes. When we die we will all ask ourselves, “Am I the only person I ever helped?” These men and women can answer with a resounding “no.” I know because I have seen them in action.
I said it’s ironic. I cannot wait to write the “How to Tarp a Roof” guide.
Awaiting transportation after a long day of gathering assessments in Tolosa, Wharton shared some laughs with local children.
