What makes a person fly across the country, into the wreckage of a natural disaster, sleep in a dusty warehouse with no running water, no bathroom and 100 other smelly and tired people? What makes someone want to charge in to help so much that everything else in their life takes a back seat? The Veterans of Team Rubicon are ready to do just that and they inspire me. They are Veterans from all branches of the military and they don’t just want to help, they need to help; it is like oxygen to them. Our veterans need a purpose, many of them crave it, and for those who have the experience, working with Team Rubicon is that purpose.
I am not a veteran myself. I am the wife of a Navy Corpsman who was injured in Iraq. I have spent a lot of time over the years sitting and waiting for him to come home safely. This week I experienced my first deployment; I joined my husband and the members of Team Rubicon on Operation Grease Lighting. I flew all night from San Diego to New York, arrived at 5am, and got to work. My skill set is a little different than most of the volunteers and I’m more than happy to stay back at the staging point. So, with my secret weapon, Yelp.com, I got to work to create the most comfortable living conditions possible in an unused warehouse with no water, toilets or heat.
By my first night, I felt like I had been there a week. I had 65 new friends and the things that had been most important to me just a day before no longer mattered. When you are working to help people who have lost everything they own, and too often the people they love, getting to work on time, having clean clothes, taking a shower or getting to watch the news somehow just don’t matter that much anymore. This was one of the first times I have really understood how life changes when one deploys with military members.
By my second day, I had forgotten the smell of the porta-potties, feet and garbage, and the many unwashed bodies packed into the dust covered and drafty space. There were Red Cross cots with sleeping bags covering every free corner. I’ve never seen so many dusty boots in my life. I had made even more friends by now. There were so many names I couldn't possibly remember them all. Being the one who picks out dinner for 100 very tired and cold veterans who have worked themselves ragged all day is an important job. Understanding that hot food is directly related to the happiness of those same volunteers made me a popular girl.
Day three – Veterans Day – what do you get an overworked, dirty and tired Veteran on Veterans Day? A hot shower! It is amazing what you can get people to do if you only ask. The community of Park Slope in Brooklyn, NY where our volunteers were living and operating from includes some very generous people. On Veterans Day I spent a few hours making calls to gyms around the neighborhood to ask if I could send some very dusty men and women to their business to use their showers. The Brooklyn Boulders Rock Climbing Gym next door had been letting the team use their facilities since the beginning. The challenge is there are one shower and four toilets and over 100 people. NY Sports Club had already offered to let us use their showers. By the end of the day the other three gyms in walking distance, the YMCA, Body Reserve and S Clubs were also willing to let us invade their spaces to get clean.
By the fourth day I was solidly settled in and able to fill the needs of the now 109 volunteers living in the warehouse. The veterans were spending their days leading thousands of civilian volunteers from around New York into the homes of Rockaway Beach, that were so affected by the storm. Mucking out flooded and sand filled basements, ripping out drywall, carrying out destroyed appliances and household goods; some even spent time digging through the wreckage to find family photos and hang them out to dry, trying to salvage anything for the people of Rockaway Beach. I flew home on the fifth day, having taught others how to feed and care for the volunteers. In those four days in New York, I learned exactly how to give my entire self to a cause. I learned what my husband has been doing with himself since before I met him, what he was doing in Iraq and at home. There are people I met in New York for the first time who I will remember for the rest of my life. They are part of me and I them. The feeling of community was immediate but it will last forever.
How can I explain that I am grateful for having worked for four days for well over 12 hours a day, and living conditions only slightly better than many homeless people? Maybe I can’t but from now on I will know what it is to give more of myself than I thought possible and to get back something I cannot quantify or explain. Working this hard usually makes me tired and cranky by the end of the day. I was tired but happy and grateful. I am so grateful to the volunteers and veterans of Team Rubicon for helping me to better understand the need to give and the amazing return on my emotional investment. I know this is something that many veterans have experienced while serving in the military. They are pushed to their limits and then beyond. Trained to push farther, to prove to themselves that they can dig deeper into themselves and bring up more than they ever thought they possessed. It is unlikely that I will ever serve in the military, I will always be awed by those who have.
