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Thoughts
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Inspired by the poetry thread, I fuond my journal from when I deployed to #Country, and I've decided to share some of these ramblings with y'all. Aren't you lucky?
January 17, 2003
We are supposed to leave for the desert today. Spirits amongst the men are surprisingly high - much laughter and carrying on between the ranks. Either everybody is so keyed up to leave that nothing bothers them, or they are so bothered they use the humor to fill empty thoughts. I, for one, am quite distraught with having to leave home, a mere six months after the wedding, but am anxious to get on with it. We do what we must, and the sooner we start, the sooner the end will be here.
January 18, 2003
Landed in Germany today, Rhein-Main Airbase (co-located with Frankfurt International, now closed). The flight was fairly uneventful...just long. Over 7 hours (closer to 8) in a MD-11 with over two hundred others; I can think of about eight hundred things that would be funner. It's just before 11 o'clock Zulu time, another two hours or so and it'll be back on the bird, a C-17 this time, so no inflight movies, and about another eight hours and we'll be in country. #Unit is the first to leave Germany, so hopefully it means we'll be the first ones out. I miss my wife terribly, her loving stare and graceful touch. She truly is an angel amongst us. Time can't go fast enough until I see her again.
January 18, 2003
Somewhere over easter Europe, on the flight from Rhein-Main to #City. Time is 1845 Zulu, and most of the #Number people on board are passed out, amongst a sea of equipment and other bodies. We are less than halfway there, and I'm left to think about what lay ahead. Not only the next six months, but beyond. When will we have kids, what kind of dogshould we get, where we settle down, what to do after this enlistment... I don't know for sure what the desert will bring to bear, although I'm sure that we will all return home better people for having made the trip. I miss my wife, my bed, the ability to just GO HOME@ So far, rest and relaxation come sporadically. The most relaxing thing we have encountered thus far is sharing video games and making fun of our closest friends. No one will admit it freely, but each of us would risk all that we have to help one another. I've heard all the cliches, seen the movies...most of us don'e do this for the President's foreign policy, or because we want to blow shit up (although, few things are as fun), but rather we do it for the 13 stripes and 50 stars we wear on our shoulder, and for the guy to our left and right. Doing absolutely difficult things together produces a bond a thousand times stronger than steel - It produces a brotherhood of men that will do anything for another. "Greater love has no man that he lay down his life for a friend."
January 19 (20?), 2003
Around 2230 Zulu time, flying to Afghanistan, again. Original plan had us landing about 0100 this morning, but we had to divert to #Country due to weather. We were in #Country long enough to gas up and stretch, then back to Germany for some reason. Something about us not being allowed in #Country...no details furnished. Since we left NC we have spent more time in the air than not, and we are all feeling the effects. When we are on land, I can't stand up without feeling like I'm in motion. Needless to say this plays hell with my equilibrium and ability to see straight. If I'm up, things are moving. All #Number of us desperately want to reach #City, if for no other reason than we just spent at 30K feet (sic, all told, it totalled ~ 26 hours flying time). Despite all of this, spirits remain high - much laughter and banter, and although over 1/3 of the company (probably more) have been with us less than six months, not a man here has not already established himself with the others and made friends. The camraderieis so thick in the air amongst us it can almost be seen floating around the dozing bodies. Although there is fear and uncertainty here (for we really don't know what to expect when we land), I am overjoyed and imensely proud to be a part of this chapter in History, esspecially so for the company I am with. #Name from Wyoming, #Name from Texas, #Name from Missouri, #Name from North Carolina...on and on, each one with a different story, each one with a story common to all. One of the proudest momentsof my existence has been assembling with the men with whom I've bled, sweat, and cried with, and beginning this voyage to ensure that the nation we love so can sleep safe another night.
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