LT Albert Cruz, Civil Affairs, ACE Team:
CP09: The Story of a Civil Affairs Officer and the Young Girl with the Broken Crutch at Max Seidel School, Tumaco, Colombia. She has been, so far, the highlight of my trip. Asking her mother about the young girl's disability, her mother replied she stepped on a live electrical wire when she was young. Although she's handicapped, she's bubbly and has a warm heart...always asking questions, and always wanting "peluchos" (stuffed animals). That's how we came in contact. She won me over after that. The part that moved me besides her spirit was that her single crutch broke. The bolt broke off. It was an old crusted crutch with tape and rust. She was happy of that crutch. Anyhow, she came to me and asked me if I could fix it. It took me 10 seconds to realize we had a Physical Therapy Unit who have wheelchairs and to my surprise new crutches. Without saying anything to her I walked her to the two corpsman, asked them for a favor, and sure enough, they gave her new crutches. The look on her face was priceless. She looked up at me and smiled. The two corpsman were nice enough to give her two pairs. In short, it was a moving moment, making the trip, the long nights, the headache, and sunburn all worth it.
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