By Carol A. Cates, MSN, MBA, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Odessa Regional Medical Center
Sometimes coming up with a topic to write about every week is really hard. But then there are weeks like this week when the hard part is not going on for pages upon pages on a subject. The topic in those weeks is generally when I get to recognize something about our community that is truly special. So many people who are passing through look at our flat, dry landscape and think that is all there is. I was at a performance at Wagner Noël recently where one of the artists repeatedly brought up the “amazing theater in the middle of nowhere.” What those people passing through don’t ever get to see is the amazing people who make up this community, and their bottomless desire to serve others. One of those groups of people whose only mission is to serve their community is Permian Basin Honor Flight. Today, I wanted to talk about this incredible organization, their mission, and their service to this community.
Honor Flights began in 2005 with two sponsors and a handful of World War II veterans going for a trip to Washington D.C. to see the World War II Memorial. It has expanded to a nation-wide program that has taken 275,000 veterans to see their memorials in Washington D.C. Permian Basin Honor Flight is one of 128 hubs in the U.S. The first Permian Basin Honor Flight occurred in 2014. This May they will be taking their 11th flight, and so far, they have taken over 1,000 veterans to Washington D.C. from this region. Our local hub is the Permian Basin Honor Flight, but their region is far larger than the Basin. It goes from Abilene and San Angelo on the east, to the New Mexico border and El Paso in the West. It goes from half-way to Lubbock and Snyder in the North, all the way to the Mexico border in the South.
If you think about all of the veterans in that area, there are many, many more veterans the Permian Basin Honor Flight is determined to serve than the 1,000 who have gone so far.
Honor Flight began their mission as a way to honor World War II veterans, and that is still the primary group of veterans they hope to bring on flights. Unfortunately, because of the passage of time there aren’t many World War II veterans around any longer. If you have a World War II veteran in your life who has not been on an Honor Flight, please have them reach out to Permian Basin Honor Flight so they can be honored as soon as possible. I will be sharing their contact information later. Because there aren’t many World War II veterans left, the focus has shifted to Korea and Vietnam veterans. If you have a veteran in your life who served prior to 1975 and has not been on an Honor Flight, again, please have them reach out to Permian Basin Honor Flight.
Permian Basin Honor Flight doesn’t want to just take the veterans to Washington D.C. to see their memorials, they want to give every veteran the “Welcome Home” that many of them never received during their service. One of the things that is so incredible about the flights is the sheer number of people, particularly young people, who ask to shake our veterans’ hands and thank them for their service. At every stop, on the trip, in the airports, and in the hotel, people stand and applaud as the veterans walk by. It is something our veterans so deserve and for many of them, something that should have happened a very long time ago. That “welcome home” helps heal some pretty significant wounds that some of our veterans have carried for decades.
Permian Basin Honor Flight takes a group of about 140 people on each flight. This consists of veterans, guardians, and volunteer support staff. The trip is a 3-day 2-night trip where all expenses are paid for the veterans. As you can imagine, the flights are not cheap. It costs about $300,000 to fund one flight. Permian Basin Honor Flight is 100% volunteer and every cent they raise goes towards the cost of the fights. Right now, Permian Basin Honor Flight is able to fund one flight per year, but the demand is enough that they would like to add an additional fight each year. The volunteers and organizations who support Permian Basin Honor flight with their time and money do an incredible job, but as with all non-profit organizations dedicated to service, they can always use more help. You can find more information about Permian Basin Honor Flight including applications to go on a flight, donation opportunities, and volunteer opportunities on their website at https://www.pbhonorflight.org or on the Permian Basin Honor Flight Facebook page.
Permian Basin Honor Flight is a great example of the many things that make this community special. Please consider helping this incredible organization support the veterans in our community long into the future.
