Songs and Seasons always bring back memories..
This time of the year in 2004 I lost a friend which would set off a chain of events that would last almost 2 years.
Early morning in Oct I received a phone call telling me that Airmen Thomson had been in a car accident and I needed to be on standby. Dennis had driven from Mexico Beach Fl to Biloxi MS to visit another Airmen that was going through training. Late at night when he was pulling through an intersection he was T-boned by a drunk driver who ran a red light.
Ive seen death my entire life but nothing that felt so much like it was my fault. Indirectly that is. I was the Airmen Leader I was suppose to know the location of all 12 of my Airmen at ALL times.. I had NO clue he had driven anyplace let alone out of the state...
Dennis was in the hospital in and out of a Coma for a few weeks and they said he was in fact doing much better.. When his last relative showed up at the hospital to see him he seemed to let go and pass away. Even though I would have granted him permission to drive out of state and no one had ever given exact guidelines to any of us I still felt as if somehow it was my fault.
I was in charge of his funeral events for the Military. I was SOOO young I was only 20 I couldn't handle it and the rest of the Airmen knew this. I had it out with my Commander who in no way even tried to send out someone to handle the family's arrangements for me which was protocol... after much debate my team pulled it together and had a nice Military Service and a Family correspondent was send out to help the family.
I shut down after this.. I blocked all emotions.. Nothing could shock me nothing at all.. Suicides of friends, death of family members nothing budged me.. It took 4 years for me to be OK with his death.. and this marks a year from that day.
Dennis Thomson I pray for you and your family on a regular basis.
-Blake Baumann
