I was entranced by an article in Salon by Justin Elliot on Friday, 13 May about Dr Terry Lakin, the Army doctor who refused deployment overseas because he believed that Barack Obama is not eligible to be the President and thus could not initiate his deployment orders.

All of the 'birther' arguments aside, I just couldn't understand the mind set of a seasoned Army Officer, not to mention a physician, taking this kind of career-ending, life-shaking stand. I spent 24 years in the military as an officer and I worked day to day with every kind of military doctor. As individuals they run the same political/personality gamut as civilian doctors, with the two exceptions that the extraordinary overtly flaming liberal is pretty rare in the military and the more conservative committed segment is greater. Because of the US military involvement, overseas assignments, separation from family are routine and, to some degree, every military doc buys into the 'Duty, Honor, Country' triad. For doctors, I think the third part of that is not 'Country' so much as it is duty of care.

So when I read on the web site of the Terry Lakin Action Fund that Terry was returning to Baltimore Washington Airport, not ten miles from my house, I was drawn to go. According to the web site, supporters had arranged with the airport for a demonstration area and there was a statement that they wanted, expected hundreds of people to greet Terry. Again, according to the site, Terry had spent hundreds of thousands of his own money on the defense lawyers and needed help and support; it was only from Maureen Dowd's account of the court martial in the NY Times, that I learned that at least part of his defense had been underwritten by the birthers.

And an obvious tilt towards the 'birther' conviction is what characterized the group I found down in the baggage area at the airport. A smaller group than I had expected, perhaps fifty people, casually penned in an area in the baggage claim area, watched carefully by three policeman and an airport employee.

Many of the people carried home-made signs – as suggested by the web site; many also wore something red white and blue. These were clearly people who wanted to be seen as lovers of the US. The words 'God' and 'Constitution' were the most popular text bites on the signs. One woman waved an large enlargement of a popularly circulated Kenyan birth certificate that purported to prove that Barack Hussein Obama was born in Mombassa, Kenya.

One woman wearing a Terry Lakin Action Fund Staff shirt said that she wasn't paid but worked on the effort a lot. When asked what they hoped would happen next with Terry and she said they were hoping for his reinstatement and return to duty. I said, “An Army officer refuses a direct order from a superior to deploy to a battle zone, gets court martialed and kicked out. Do you really think there is a chance of reinstatement?” She gave me a rueful smile and turned away.

Wandering back and forth, I took pictures, said hello, just looked around. When people saw my camera, they set themselves and smiled, ready to be photographed in this, in their eyes, meaningful event. There was no obvious denoted leader but one tall attractive woman was making statements to camera phones and moving around purposefully. When she turned my way, perhaps attracted by my camera, I asked her about the 'birther' posters. “That's what this is all about, isn't it?”, she responded. She went on to talk about how Terry was standing up for what he believed and that he was denied discovery.

I asked how she felt now that virtually everyone, including the Republican office holders in Hawaii, verified that Obama was indeed born there. She said that she had spoken to Obama's sister who said that he was adopted and that last week, a US congressman had hugged her and told her to keep on. And what about the long form released by Obama? A clear fake, she replied. Well, wouldn't he have the facilities to make a good fake. Well maybe he was doing it on his own? She seemed deeply committed to the belief that Obama was not suitable, no matter what disruptive facts came along.

She left, possibly drawn by more urgent issues and I started circling the crowd again. At the periphery of the crowd stood a woman, holding one child and flaked by two others; she was obviously physically distinct from the others in the welcome group. She was quite small, very lovely and rather dark-skinned, Asian, perhaps a Filipina. She was quiet and seemed tired. I realized with a start that this was probably Mrs Lakin, Terry's wife. Occasionally some one or two of the Terry Lakin Action Fund Staffers would go over and talk for a while, but she and the children were, both euphemistically and actually at the periphery of the crowd.

 She stayed there, not attempting to do more until the same tall woman who had been giving the statements, swooped over and, evidently having gotten an alert that Terry was disembarking, ushered the family to the mouth of the arrivals gate.

For a few minutes there was nothing and then he was there. Weaned on television and movies where important events occur against a background of music and appropriate lighting, somehow I expected something more. He looked exactly like his pictures, medium-height, trim, grey hair cut short; easily seen as a military doctor, except now of course he was not, could not, wear a uniform. He walked forward and embraced his family, first together, then individually – rather than exuberance, it was the quiet happiness of a man who loved and missed his wife and children. Both he and they were clearly tired, certainly worn by the 5 months that had separated them and the trial that preceded that.

He was ushered towards the waiting crowd where people took pictures and asked for his autograph, one man holding open a book entitled 'Where is the Birth Certificate.' Terry Lakin answered a few questions so quietly that his voice could not be heard at the rear of the small crowd. He didn't make any statement and the exuberance of the expectant crowd drained away into the sort of flat reality that this was not the beginning of something but the unwelcome end.

In a very few minutes, he and his family were lead outside to a waiting car which drove off, led by a small contingent from a Christian motorcycle club. As she was leaving, I stopped the spokesperson and asked her what Terry would be doing now. She said that he might open a clinic and that the fund would help him if they could. Donations had dropped off since Obama had released his birth certificate. I asked if he is licensed to practice medicine in Maryland? 'Oh, I wouldn't know anything about that', she said and was gone.

As they drove away, I remembered something from Maureen Dowd's column. During the court martial, LTC Lakin said

“the winter had been “a confusing time, a very emotional time for me.” His shoulders slumped, he offered excuses about how he had gotten conflicting advice from lawyers — his defense was underwritten by Birthers. 'I understand that it was my decision, and I made the wrong choice,' he told the judge.”

A press release on the TLAF website released on April 27^th said, in part,

Had the Obama administration agreed to allow the document unveiled today and other related documents as requested for discovery in Terry Lakin's first pre-trial hearing, the matter would have been resolved and soldiers assured their military orders were lawful, given by a lawful Commander-in-Chief.

A good soldier, having played his part in this issue, would have returned enthusiastically to the service for which he is so ably trained.

The ultimate act of bravery in wartime is to sacrifice yourself to save your comrades. So clear is one act,  throwing oneself on a grenade, that it has become the single predominant cliché used to describe a knowingly total  self-sacrificing act.

Did Terry Lakin, chose his brave act, throw himself on a grenade, only to look up and find that he was the only one who was ever at risk and nothing was ever in danger?

I have written to Terry asking to talk with him and have received a message that that it is being considered.