The Dreaded Red Cross Call

We take a break from our regularly scheduled PLDC saga for this flashback to an earlier time in Germany.

Who knows what technology changes are in place for notifying soldiers of family emergencies but such as it were back in my day a soldier would get a Red Cross notification.

As I have explained (probably too much) how it wasn't as easy as hitting "send" on an email or picking up a phone to call  --getting immediate notifications of an emergency were tricky, not to mention we had that whole 8 hour time difference to deal with as well.

No solider ever wanted to get a Red Cross call.  EVER.  As it was, the family members were to contact their local  Red Cross chapter and let them know what the nature of the emergency was and whom to contact.  The Red Cross usually did some verification of the information such as calling the hospital or even --funeral home --then they'd wield their wand of magic and through some process unknown to me (remember, all paper-pushing days --no computers!) find the soldier's unit, call the unit (usually the 1SG) then begin the process to get that soldier home ASAP!  Unfortunately, I was present when some of my fellow soldiers received one of those calls and then one day after returning from lunch I walk back into to my JAG office and its very quiet.

My NCO looks at me and says, "Private Dodge, you received a Red Cross call. Your sister Valerie is trying to reach you and its urgent.  Here's a number for you to call."

I took the piece of paper from him, walked into the bathroom.  I peed, vomited then cried.  I tried to calm myself down, I prayed, I cried . . I washed my face, took a deep breath and walked out.  I went to a smaller office where I'd have some privacy for the call and in fact, I went back to my old Admin Law desk.  With trembling fingers, I dialed the phone, "Hello?  Hi um --my name is (shaky voice) Private Melissa Dodge and I got a message to call . . . "

"Oh yes, Private Dodge, we got a message for you a couple of days ago but we had some difficulty finding you and . . ."

Before I tell you the rest of the story I'll tell you this --remember the very beginning when I first got to Germany and they were going to send me to Erlangen and apparently that went into my file or records the Red Cross uses --or someplace and so it was a bit confusing as to where I actually was.  In fact, a few times I received mail that was misdirected to Erlangen before it actually got to me.  This delayed the Red Cross from getting notification to me right away --they simply could not find me.

At this point in the conversation tears were just rolling down my face.  I tried to be strong but you know, they actually said my sister's name.  There's no doubt she had contacted them and being the oldest in the family, no doubt she had been appointed the one to do so.

And I couldn't stop the trembling both in my voice and my knees.