About three inches of water already covered the
floors of Wind Crest Nursing Center in Copperas
Cove, and it still was raining.
Residents were stressed, and workers hoped no one
would be hurt by the rising water. Administrator
Donny Richards began considering evacuating two of
the center’s wings.
And then the Soldiers arrived.
Richards isn’t sure how eight Operational Test
Command Soldiers and one OTC civilian heard about
the flood, but during their lunch break June 27, the
Soldiers moved heavy sandbags in front of doors to
keep the water out.
The Soldiers aren’t quite sure how word got to them
either.
“It was the friendly Ghost in the sky,” said Sgt.
1st Class Timothy Hale, who works in OTC’s G-3.
Hale thinks someone at OTC has a Family member at
the center and learned of the flooding that way.
Regardless, the Soldiers and civilian were happy
they could help, especially at a place where so many
OTC Soldiers and civilians regularly volunteer.
One of the residents was so excited to see real
Soldiers, he stood outside with them while they
worked and got a kick out of meeting them, Richards
said.
“He just wanted to talk to all the Army guys,” Hale
said. “He asked most of us how long we have been in
the Army. Most of us who went out there have been in
the Army longer than he has been on Earth, and he
thought it was pretty funny.”
While the center does fulfill a traditional nursing
home role, most of its residents have special needs,
Richards said. Residents range in age from 5 to late
80s, he said.
Richards was thankful the Soldiers and civilian
volunteered to help because the center already is
cleaning up from past water damage. Carpet in the
center’s activity area had to be ripped up because
of flooding.
While there is no way to put a monetary amount on
the damage the Soldiers and civilian prevented,
Richards said the floor was protected, which means
mold growth and injuries likely were avoided, and
the residents did not have to be displaced.
“It’s a lot of work for the staff and stressful for
the residents to be moved,” Richards said. “It’s an
ordeal. As long as the rain stops to where we can
pump the water out, we can get them back in (their
rooms) in about six hours.”
Richards said the center’s residents were looking to
begin a pen pal program and hope to start with a big
thank-you letter to OTC.
The command’s Soldiers and civilians have had a
special relationship with the center and volunteer
hundreds of hours per year on weekend holiday
parties and fishing trips with the residents.
Richards said one of the best things about the
Soldiers and civilian helping that day was their
attitude.
“They did it with a smile,” he said.
Along with Hale, the volunteers were 1st Sgt. James
Skinner, of OTC’s Headquarters and Headquarters
Company; Sgt. 1st Class Mitchell Williams of the
command’s Aviation Test Directorate; Sgt. 1st Class
Melissa McVey from the AVTD; Staff Sgt. Gillus
Blanchard from HHC; Staff Sgt. Kevin Gervais from
the AVTD; Staff Sgt. Roberto DeLeon from AVTD; Staff
Sgt. Darrell Williams from the Future Force Test
Directorate; and Barbara Mitchell-Hampton of the
AVTD.