It seems like yesterday except, it is today.
A voice: “Level one trauma ten patients.”
The smell of dust, exhaust and sweat,
excitement and fear, controlled chaos,
medics, mangled men, women, the innocent.
Arrive broken, blood out, blood in, mended, gone,
arrive again, an inexhaustible stream.
Shredded uniforms, a lost crucifix, soiled bandages,
a family photo, syringes, iv bags, severed limbs,
piled up, collected, discarded, burned.
Some familiar faces, mostly nameless faces,
friends and enemies, loved ones and strangers,
from cities, towns, suburbs, villages, tent and field.
Sadness and anger, pride and confidence,
hopes and dreams, illusions and truth.
Day and night, dawn to dusk,
same as yesterday, tomorrow, and today.
I will rest soon, but not too soon,
heading for my final rest, one day.
Bradford Williams completed his M.D. in 1991 at Texas A&M College of Medicine, followed by a family medicine residency from 1991 to 1994 at Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, NC. Afterwards, he joined a private group practice in Corpus Christi, Texas. He complete his military service along the way but later felt compelled to re-join the military after 9/11. He undertook Aerospace Medicine training at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine and then completed an MPH at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from 2007 to 2009. Bradford Williams retired from medicine in 2019. He is now looking forward to picking up where he left off in graduate school by continuing his study of Medical Anthropology/Archeology and Latin.
