Here’s to my Parachute Packers!
Charlie Plumb is a United States Naval Academy graduate who became a part of the military program which is popularly known as Top Gun. He flew 74 successful combat missions over North Vietnam.
However, Charlie’s 75th mission didn’t go as planned. His fighter jet was shot down somewhere over Hanoi, where he ejected and pulled the parachute.
Charlie was subsequently taken prisoner and tortured. He spent the next 2,103 days of his life (~6 years) in a 8 x 8 cell and somehow managed to survive.
Years later, Charlie was approached by a man in a restaurant who inquired about his identity. Upon questioning him back, Charlie was shocked to know that he was the sailor who packed his parachute before every mission.
A sailor who kept doing his job despite no acknowledgments or greetings from Charlie. A sailor who was responsible for Charlie’s survival.
I’d like to call such people Parachute Packers.
Today, I write this letter as an ode to the Parachute Packers who have supported me in my journey so far.
These are people who do good even when no one is looking at them.
These are people who support others without expecting anything in return, simply because it is in them to do so.
These are people who are invisible in my daily life and yet emerge to hold my back no matter what.
These are people who have shown me kindness and graciousness in amounts that I can never give back in an entire lifetime.
These are people who ushered me from behind the stage, from the last rows of crowded halls, fastening me to its very center that basks with a proverbial spotlight.
These are people who have flown me here to this very day and made sure that I landed safely in SaaSBOOMi — my home, my mana, and my sanctum of solace.
Here’s to these people who define me. Here’s to my Parachute Packers.
Seize the day! :)
