By Carol A. Cates, MSN, MBA, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Odessa Regional Medical Center
One of the best things about my job is that I get to not only serve the people who come into the hospital, I get to be involved in service outside the hospital. Among the organizations I get to work with, one that I just adore is the Permian Basin Honor Flight. Permian Basin Honor Flight is one of the most incredible organizations I know. Since last Saturday was Veteran’s Day, I thought it was a good time to talk about Permian Basin Honor Flight and the service they provide to our Veterans.
Honor Flights started in 2005. According to the Honor Flight network web page, Honor Flights started with a “simple, yet powerful, mission—honoring our nation’s veterans by bringing them to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built to commemorate their service and sacrifice”. The first flight was just World War II veterans who were taken to Washington D.C for a day trip. Since then, the Honor Flights have expanded to 124 active hubs in 44 states, and they have taken over 260,000 veterans from every age of service from World War II to the most recent eras to see their memorials.
The Permian Basin Honor Flight hub began in 2014. In May of this year, they celebrated their 10th flight. To date they have taken over 1000 Veterans from this area to Washington D.C.. Permian Basin is a bit of a misnomer, because the region Permian Basin Honor Flight Supports is far bigger than the Basin. They support veterans north to Lamesa, east to Abilene and San Angelo, south to the border, and west to the New Mexico border and El Paso.
Because of the distance, the Permian Basin Honor flight is a 3-day, 2-night trip rather than the day trip of the early Honor Flights. Each trip of the Permian Basin Honor Flight takes about 100 Veterans to Washington D.C. Those Veterans are accompanied by support staff to assist with logistics and a myriad of other needs, a military liaison to make sure the formalities of honoring the Veterans are observed in the correct fashion, law enforcement and medical teams to ensure the physical safety of the veterans, and counselors and other trained professionals to assist with their mental and emotional well-being. It is a massive undertaking, as I am sure you can imagine.
Which brings me to what I think is one of the best things about the Permian Basin Honor Flight. It is 100% volunteer supported. There are no paid positions within Permian Basin Honor Flight. The volunteers raise funds, every cent of which goes to supporting the flights, they organize the itinerary, and they manage everything from the permits needed to take groups to the memorials to making sure there are enough bathroom breaks.
The volunteer team at Permian Basin Honor Flight spends a great deal of time evaluating the flights to make sure that our Veterans have an amazing experience. They charter a Southwest Airlines flight to go directly from Midland International to one of the Washington D.C area airports—that way the Veterans don’t have to worry about missing a flight or losing luggage. The hotel is close to the memorials so time is not wasted on back and forth travel.
The list of memorials varies a bit year to year but it’s always impressive. World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Lincoln Memorial, the Air Force Memorial, the Marine Memorial, the Women’s Memorial, the Navy Memorial, the Army Museum, the Marine Corps Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Tomb of the Unknowns are just some of the places they take the Veterans in that 3-day trip. They have speakers at meals that talk about issues important to Veterans, and they have music by nostalgia artists to commemorate the various eras in history. One of the things that always strikes me the most is how many people at every stop, especially young people, will stand in line to shake the hands of our Veterans and thank them for their service. It’s not a planned part of the trip, but it is absolutely one of the most meaningful parts of it.
The best way I can explain the impact these flights have is to tell you two stories from my own experience as a medical volunteer. In 2015, I was sitting by one of the Veterans at the Air Force Memorial. He was a Vietnam Veteran. He said, “Carol, after Vietnam I always had a bitter taste in my mouth when it came to this country. After this trip, it all tastes sweet again.” Then, this past May at the Korea Memorial, there was a group of South Korean tourists. Those tourists quite literally got down on their knees to thank our Korea Veterans. They truly understood that if those Veterans had not made the sacrifices they made, their lives would have been completely different. It was incredible to witness their gratitude to our Veterans. I will always support Honor Flight because it makes such a difference for our Veterans to have the experience of a flight.
As I end today, I am asking two things of you. First, if you have a Veteran in your life, please make sure they know about Permian Basin Honor Flight, especially if they are a World War II, Korea, or Vietnam era veteran. Those are the ages of Veterans that are prioritized for trips because they are getting older, and no one wants to miss out on a chance to take them. But if they aren’t of those eras, don’t discount them going, health issues and other circumstances can move people up in priority as well. More information and applications for the flight can be found on the Permian Basin Honor Flight website at pbhonorflight.org or on the Permian Basin Honor Flight Facebook page. Second, please consider donating to Permian Basin Honor Flight with your time or your money. This organization is a great way to serve the community and the Veterans who have given so much to serve all of us. The website and Facebook page have information about volunteering and donating as well.
