Today was a bad day. I was coming home from the dentist with my three little boys with clean teeth in the back of the van. I was on the highway, and I heard the pop. My tire blew out. I was about ¼ mile from the front gate and hobbled my van up to the gate guard with my ID hanging out of the window. My husband is gone, my friends weren’t home and the neighborhood where I live on base was empty. The guard looked at me with those eyes that say he’s sorry, but he can’t help. The base police can’t help folks with car trouble for liability reasons. He motioned me to the guard shack on the right. I couldn’t drive the last ½ mile home because the tire was coming off the rim. I pulled in following his instructions.
The guard flagged down the first Marine that came to the gate. A Marine named Tom, dressed in dress-casuals, on TDY from Camp Lejeune. Tom pulled in behind me, and jumped out like we were old friends. He took over-pulled out the jack, unbolted the spare, loosened the right front rim with the shredded tire, jacked up the van, changed out the tire—all in about 10 minutes. I’m telling ya’ these Marines, man, they are something else. He reeked of Semper Fi. He just looked like a Marine. He even stopped jacking up the car and stood at attention when Colors played.
I shook his hand, thanked him, and offered him beer. He smiled and said, “No thanks. This is what sailors do for each other, ma’am.” It gets better…
I went to my car, stunned that a total stranger (really, he was a military not-so stranger) would help me change a tire. Well, I turned the key. Nothing. The battery was dead. I started to cry. This stuff only happens when the husband is gone. I flagged down Tom and asked if had jumper cables. Of course, he’s a prepared Marine, he did. He pulled out of his car as if they were in his back pocket. I was on my way in five minutes…thanks to the courtesy and help of a Marine named Tom.
Thanks, Tom, for helping by boys and me and not laughing at me when my mascara started to run.
Semper Fi, my friend, Semper Fi.
5 Comments
I think we all have had those days. Gosh and when it rains it pours. Thank goodness for Angels like Tom! You never know who we may “entertain unawares!” Glad he was there for you at the right time and the right place! HUGS!
Oorah! What a great guy.
I’m glad Tom was there to help you when you needed it.
I swear those things only happen when the significant helper/partner is gone
But thank goodness for Tom, and for folks like him. And of course, for the military community/family.
(I can’t change a tire worth a darn. I would have been crying from the get go.)
Whenever I am in the car with my three little ones and something happens it seems like my cell phone battery dies at the same time! Thank God for Tom!!
I love the kinship we have with each other! We once stopped and helped a couple off base in Guam. Turned out to be the Command Master Chief and his wife. It sure felt good to my (at the time) E4 husband.