The message I wanted to share about Taking Chance isn't directly related to nurses, except past and present military nurses or readers whose relatives and friends are in the military - or those who lost loved ones in combat.

More Than Compassion

Even if you have no direct connection to men and women in the armed services, the very least this HBO television movie offers is a refresher course in compassion, the heart and art of nursing. All of us need an occasional injection of this intangible quality - to remind us why we chose nursing.

I hadn't seen the tagline for Taking Chance before I saw the film. "When one falls, another brings him home" describes the special homecoming the military affords all its fallen members.

The movie, based on the journal of retired Marine Lt. Col. Mike Strobl, is about the officer's journey as a uniformed military escort to safeguard the body and remains of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps, until delivered to his parents in Dubois, WY.

Strobl begins, "Chance Phelps was wearing his St. Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday [2004 in Iraq]. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn't know Chance before he died. Today I miss him."

Rituals Unknown

Maybe it was my naïveté that I thought two officers dispatched to inform the next of kin of their loved one's death and an official letter from the president expressing the country's grief represented the military's closure with families of deceased troops.

Escorts who make the journey with the deceased generally are chosen by the deceased's unit commander. The escort is not usually a high-ranking officer such as Strobl unless the deceased is a family member. However, the lieutenant colonel, then assigned as a manpower analyst to the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, VA, had volunteered to his commanding officer for this duty. His reason for wanting to specifically accompany Phelps is revealed in the film.

In the movie, Kevin Bacon, who has played a Marine three times during his film career, is perfectly cast as Strobl. The journey begins at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where all fallen troops are brought.

A poignant scene depicted here is a technician preparing Phelps' body and his personal effects. You see her hands so gently and lovingly touch the soldier's bloodied hands and nails. She cleans them until they are pristine, even if the rest of his body can't be put back together for his memorial.

Since Strobl was in uniform and had to present his papers to airline personnel, all knew what his mission was. When he checks in at Philadelphia International Airport, the first leg of the journey, the teary-eyed ticket agent quietly tells Strobl she's upgraded him to first class.

For me, one of the most poignant tributes of the journey occurs when a flight attendant, who had not talked to Strobl during the flight, leaned down to him and placed a worn gold crucifix - her lapel pin - in his hand. "I want you to have this," were the only words the attendant spoke. Later the escort presented the cross to Phelps' mother, who then wore it on her lapel.