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Date with fate post 53 - Two seconds from "depraved indifference"
This entry was posted on 9/7/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
One day at the rent-a-truck and cargo truck assembly plant we pulled the trucks with their unattached cargo boxes, into the welding bay like always. But what was different this day is the snow had accumulated on the top of the cargo boxes. After they sat in our welding and undercoating bay for a few minutes the snow melted and created a small pond under the truck - there was no drain of course. A good shop would have had a bay pit to stand in. Instead we had to crouch in the dirt and water.
My work partner was a little prick named Jim. His hair stuck out from under his hat like a clown's might. He would weld one side of a truck as I undercoated the other, then we would switch (anything wrong with that picture? We frequently got burned badly by the flammable undercoating as it would flare up from the welding sparks).
Jim liked to get high and have a drink of alcohol at lunch so afternoons were rough on me. Jim would throw the welding wand under the truck at me as it sparked on the floor. He loved to heave the pneumatic wrenches at me and then glowered at me from under his side of the truck as they spun and whizzed and bounced into my knees.
On the particular day in question the snow outside was heavy and thick. The bay looked like a small lake after lunch. I told Jim I was going out back to find a wood pallet to bring in and stand on so as not to electrocute myself with the welder. I asked him if he wanted one also. He called me an expletive and flipped me off. As I walked back toward the dock, I heard Jim curse some more and switch on the welder.
By this time you are asking yourself, "Bob, you were in the Combat Engineers, you were an all-conference defensive end, you were a rock climber, you ride a motorcycle in the winter, and you are a weight lifter. Why didn't you fold Jim-the-little-prick into a pretzel?" Jim was a relative of the shop manager. I would have surely been fired. And, that 1970s early '80s hell economy would have no job waiting. And, my father had taught me much better than resorting to muscle.
In 1980, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was just a phrase you heard on TV once and a while. When I walked back to the bay there was a buzzing sound. Something smelled foul. As I rounded the truck and the bay partition wall, there was Jim-the-little-prick - slowly being electrocuted. He was stuck on the side of the truck, he could not let go of the welding wand, his boots smoked as he stood in the water, his hair and eyebrows were slowly burning off. He looked at me with watering, bloodshot eyes and mouthed with no voice, "t-t-t-turn i-i-it o-o-off."
I yanked down the big circuit breaker lever near my work station. No one could see us as we worked back in that shit-hole of a bay because of the partition walls. The rest of the assembly plant needed to be protected from our welding glare. Jim fell to the floor, in the water, it sizzled as he slumped his burning face in it. When I pulled the master breaker, it shut down the whole building. It went silent like a mausoleum. Normally, there would be deafening riveting, hammering, and screaming pneumatics wrenches. The supervisors came running from their hiding places.
Their initial response was to chide me for "fuck'n off," and berate the smoldering Jim, "to get up off his, ignorant ass." Once the supervisors' understanding of the saga came together, Jim eventually ended up in the office on a make-shift cot - an office desk. I don't think Jim left that day. He pulled his burnt self together and stayed at work sorting bolts and rivets for the rest of the day - speaks to the urgency of that decrepit economy. In today's medical culture, Jim probably would be put on medical leave for a month.
None-the-less, staying on the job after being severely injured does kind of remind me of the rapidly digressing work conditions in this current decrepit economy we suffer as I write this book. But, I digress.
I had a quirky pal at that job who always brought police accessories to work to show them off. He ordered the gear from cop and sleuth magazines - another story for another day. After the dust settled on the incident, Ol' cop surplus dude, suggested to me on the side that I, "Should have let the little sanctimonious, self righteous, drunk-prick - fry to death."
All I could do was sigh as he showed me his latest set of shiny brass knuckles.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Sergeant Matthew Daniel Hermanson, 22, Appleton, Wisconsin, died Thursday, April 28, 2011, at Forward Operating Base Shank of wounds he received when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms-fire in Wardak province, Afghanistan. Hermanson was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Polk, Louisiana. He joined the Army in 2007. After stints at Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Iraq, he was deployed to Afghanistan in November of 2010.
The Janesville Gazette posting a wire article from the Associated Press notes Hermanson enjoyed hunting and fishing. He was a week or so from his first wedding anniversary when he was killed. Hermanson graduated from Appleton North High School in 2006.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Sergeant Hermanson had also served served 14 months in Iraq. Although younger, Hermanson was in a leadership role. One of his extra duties was to counsel soldiers who were having marriage or relationship problems. He also trained new solders who had yet to be in combat. The Journal Sentinel went on to say Matthew was the youngest son in the family.
The Web site fox11online.com posted a statement by the family that says Matthew was known for his sense of humor and had, "a vibrant personality, exuberant smile, and quick-witted humor." Hermanson was to complete his tour of duty in July 2011 but he had signed up to extend his tour.
An obituary posted on findagrave.com notes Matthew was born on May 27, 1988 in Appleton, Wisconsin. At the time of his death Sergeant Matthew Hermanson was survived by: his wife Rachel; parents Jeff and Sandy; brothers and sisters-in-law Josh (Kathryn) Hermanson, and Nathan (Audra) Hermanson; maternal grandparents Daniel and Ruth Carew; paternal grandmother Karen (special friend Harland Carl) Hermanson; aunts Sue (Bruce) Buchanan, and Barb (Justin) Tobias; uncles Steve (Deb) Carew, and Bruce (Bonnie) Carew; father-and-mother-in-law Reverand Donald and Gladys Younger; and, sister-in-law Daisy Younger.
Army Sergeant Matthew D. Hermanson was the 31st Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since the October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
102,344 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,477 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1756 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
944 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,186 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin Service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
13,609 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin Service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin Service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
34 Wisconsin Service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin Service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
149 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
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