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Memorial Day (Post 38) 5-28-14

Father Jerry has been writing about discernment for the last several months. Discernment pertains, in a way, to Memorial Day, our commemoration of men and women who died protecting our freedom. To me the most compelling stories of bravery describe those heroes who like Christ consciously chose to lay down their lives for their fellow service persons. This type of choice is a form of discernment, but in the cases that I think about on Memorial Day the discernment process usually occurs in accelerated fashion – in some cases instantaneously.

On Memorial Day my son, Nicholas, and I usually watch the movie Blackhawk Down. Over the years the scenes have become familiar to us. (Note - we have not memorized the entire dialog the way my daughter Abby can recite the lines of Pride and Prejudice.) To me the most haunting sequence entails the Delta Force sniper team of Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon repeatedly requesting permission for insertion to protect Michael Durant and the crew of Super Six Four from the mob of Somali gunmen converging on the second crash site. Providing air cover from a relatively safe position aboard an MH-6 Little Bird, Shughart, Gordon and their teammate Brad Hastings repeatedly request to be inserted into the crash site to confront the oncoming horde face to face. Finally their request is granted and they are allowed to enter the battle with no promise and, in fact, little possibility of additional help other than Brad Hastings’ remaining rifle fire from above.

Some Americans would question why the two men soldiers would insist on taking this seemingly foolhardy and ultimately ineffective action. They might even misperceive Gordon and Shughart’s heroism as macho bravado or stupidity. Most Americans understand the motivation of these two special operators on a visceral level, but would have trouble verbalizing what we admire about the actions of the two Delta members. In my view Gordon and Shughart were faced with a question of discernment. They had to decide who they were and what action was most consistent with how they defined themselves. Their discernment told them that they were unable to watch the crew of Super Six Four be massacred without taking direct action. Shooting from a safe position without inserting was something that these two men felt would violate their personal code. Both men won the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions that day – posthumously as might be expected.

On the much more mundane stage of our daily lives we often face decisions where we too must discern actions consistent with our perception of ourselves. For instance, as a loving father, faithful husband and a devout Christian, my behavior should be uniformly charitable, merciful and moral. Our country decorates and honors brave servicemen like Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon to make them models for other soldiers to emulate. In the Catholic Church the ultimate model for our behavior is Jesus Christ and we also learn by studying the actions of all the saints and martyrs who have followed Jesus’ example.

In my naval service I also had the honor of serving with one shipmate, Christopher Woodmansee, who chose to lay down his life for his friends. MM3 Woodmansee worked in the engineering plant on my first ship the USS Dahlgren (DDG-43), a destroyer that was slightly long of tooth and had been kept around past its expected service life. Removing older ships from service was delayed during the build up to a 600 ship navy – a strategy to bankrupt the USSR through an arms race it could not afford. Unfortunately through military inertia the Coontz class of destroyers stuck around for several years after the Soviet empire had already crumbled. The ships were powered by antiquated 1200 pound high pressure steam plants and at 31 years old, not all the piping, connections and components in the engineering spaces remained reliable. The ships of the Coontz class began to catch fire or have other accidents in domino fashion during the early nineties.

Even though we both worked in Engineering, Petty Officer Woodmansee and I did not interact on a daily basis. As a mechanic and watch-stander in the Number One Engine Room, Petty Officer Woodmansee spent much of his time turning a wrench, beating on stuff with a hammer or joking with his buddies. As a junior officer, I stood watches topside, did a lot of paperwork and got yelled at by the senior officers. In the Navy junior officers often act as piñatas for senior officers because frustrated leaders need someone to yell at and it is bad leadership for officers to yell at enlisted personnel. Chief Petty Officers are in charge of yelling at enlisted personnel. When officers yell at enlisted, it makes the chiefs more cranky than usual – that outcome is generally bad for all concerned.

Another bad outcome is when a threaded fastener in a high pressure lube oil system fails catastrophically within an operating steam plant. When a plug or screw rockets out of a pressurized lube oil system, a stream of oil follows, is atomized by air and generally finds something hot. The result is a giant fireball. On February 22, 1992 this is what happened on the upper level of #1 Engine Room of USS Dahlgren where MM3 Christopher Woodmansee, AKA Woody, was standing watch.

In that situation Woody was trained to notify Main Control and to immediately evacuate. In his split second discernment, MM3 Woodmansee decided that the fire posed a threat to the other men in the engine room. Instead of leaving, Woody attacked the fire with a 15 pound CO2 bottle; the size of extinguisher that high school goof-offs mess with to earn detention. A fifteen pound CO2 bottle is an effective tool for extinguishing a trash can blaze, but is not suitable for attacking a large fireball especially when the source of the jetting lube oil remains unsecured.

While Woody died that day, probably of asphyxiation, all but one of his buddies made it to safety. Some might say that Christopher Woodmansee was not a hero and that he had just made a wrong split-second decision. It is my understanding, though, that there was more than one empty CO2 bottle at the feet of Woody’s body. To me a second extinguisher means that MM3 Woodmansee was not satisfied with attempting the impossible once; Woody went back for a second helping.

With the advent of Facebook service members are able to easily track down people with whom they served. On Veterans Day many of my shipmates change their profile pictures to cruise book photos from a quarter century past. We swap sea stories about things that happened on the ship or in ports of foreign countries that often ended at Captain’s Mast – a shipboard hearing for non-judicial punishment. Memorial Day stories are different. For my shipmates, Memorial Day posts always honor Christopher Woodmansee and Sean Bible who both died in a fire in Number One Engine Room over 20 years ago.

For our country, Memorial Day, is a Good Friday-like day where we express our appreciation for those who have given their lives for our freedom. On Good Friday I think it is also important to remember that Jesus Christ did not die just for the Church; instead He loved us and chose to die for each of us individually. The same is true of Memorial Day. While those that died in uniform definitely died for our country, Christ-like many of them also died laying down their lives for the people with whom they served. They professed to be soldiers and sailors and took action consistent with their profession. We too should seek to always take actions consistent with the Catholic faith that we profess.