For some unknown reason yesterday, while I was in my A&P seminar I turned and looked out the window and saw a horrible thing. A giant ball of flame surrounded by black, billowing clouds of smoke filled my vision. It was obvious it was an explosion and in my mind I figured maybe a boiler at the Single Soldier's Club had exploded. I found out a couple hours later that a C-17 Cargo plane that just taken off to practice for Saturday's Air Show had literally dropped out of the sky just two miles off the end of the runway and exploded on impact. There were only four people on board (3 Air Nat'l Guardsmen, and 1 was active duty Air Force) and we're all thankful that it wasn't full of troops going up for a jump, but it's heartbreaking to have born witness to the explosion and know that there are four more families out there who've just lost loved ones.
All day today I keep replaying the image of that mushroom cloud in my mind. I just can't seem to get it to go away. The feeling in the pit of my stomach is the same as it was the day three months after my wedding when my husband called me from base telling me to turn on the news because someone had just flown a plane into the World Trade Center. Although the tragedies are not of the same scale, people lost their life in both and watching something like that happen, or even just seeing the end of it is sickening to my heart. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the soldiers we've lost, whether in combat or training accidents. Either here or abroad. Peace be with you and ease to your hearts.
If anyone is interested in reading the local news story, here's the link: Cargo plane crash
Oh my goodness Sandra, did you see the crash? I heard about something like that happening in Alaska about a cargo plane that went down.
ReplyDeleteThat was the one, Maria. I didn't see the actual crash, but I looked out just in time to see the fireball lift into the air. One of my daughters was outside at the time and told me she heard a loud boom.
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