AF benefits travel farther than expected

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Steve Bauer
  • 30th Space Wing Public Affairs
Back before I signed on the dotted lines, raised my right hand and took the oath to join the Air Force, I was well aware of the benefits associated with being in the military -- or so I thought.

What grabbed my attention initially were the education and medical benefits, and the additional allowances for housing and sustenance. However, there was one benefit I had greatly underappreciated and overlooked -- travel.

When I joined the military, I knew that moving to different duty assignments and traveling would be inevitable the longer I stayed in the service, but something somewhere in the back of my mind told a different story. With less than a year in, I was not expecting to do any international travel, but the Air Force had different plans for me.

This past spring, the Air Force and my immediate supervisors afforded me the opportunity of a lifetime. I was selected to take part in humanitarian efforts in rural Costa Rica. This was the first joint-humanitarian mission involving the U.S. Air Force and local medical personnel in Costa Rica.

My role in the mission was to document this historic effort of the U.S. military and the Costa Rican physicians who jointly provided care for residents of the northern regions of Alajuela, Costa Rica. These residents rarely, if ever, are able to seek medical attention due to their isolated locations. Many of the residents, without any mode of transportation, are forced to walk long distances to receive care.

In one instance, during the mission, a local woman who was seven months pregnant, walked for more than three hours and then waited approximately seven hours just to be seen by the U.S. and Costa Rican physicians before having to walk another three hours back home.

The trip opened my eyes in many ways. Even though I was only in the country for a little over a week, I got a good taste for another culture very different from my own. I took the advice of some of my co-workers who advised me to "go native" as much as possible while in a different place. I've got to say, it was truly a breath of fresh air.

Figuratively speaking, I allowed myself to marinate in the local culture to learn more about what drives these people. I actually learned just the opposite. I learned there is one element that does NOT drive these people -- money.

The locals were easily some of the poorest people I have ever met, but it was hard to feel sorry for a group of people who were so very rich in other facets of life. Family was at high importance to these people. I witnessed young children taking care of the infants in their families. The families stayed close to one another like links on a chain; it would take a lot to separate them.

Like the local, soon-to-be-mother I previously mentioned, residents waited long hours to be seen by the physicians. They endured high temperatures and humidity with smiles on their faces. They were very grateful of our presence and the efforts of the physicians. Some of the residents waited all day to receive simple painkillers and cold medicines that many Americans take for granted every day.

Scenes like these really made me appreciate other cultures and all of the small things I take advantage of on a daily basis living in America. I feel very fortunate to be a part of an organization like the Air Force that reaches out around the world to help people in need.

Travel was not one of the Air Force's benefits I originally thought I would benefit from, but my trip to Costa Rica was a positive experience that I will never forget. Hopefully, I was able to touch some of the Costa Rican locals the same way they have impacted my view of humanity.