Sixty four freaking hours it took him to fly here, but here he is at last. He didn’t even protest when his dear old dad hugged him for about twenty minutes at the airport.
But after nine months of worry, he is back home at last. Now we have sixteen days to fit in all the good stuff we can manage. I’m cooking all his favorites for dinner, he took his sister to a rock concert - the Jingle Ball - and they had a wonderful time.
Now he is off to visit my folks for a day or so, as well as visit some friends of his (some of which friends are of the girl persuasion) in Madison.
My gosh, is he tanned - he is darker than our President! And different - more mature. He knows it, too. My wife was gone, so we had lunch together, and he was talking about whether he would be able to fit in when he goes back to college and finds none of the other people his age have experienced what he has.
But he is home now. One more time, all my family is back under my roof.
Very glad for ya, Shodan. I get the feeling you’re really going to help him get the most out of his return, and I wish him safety and happiness for the remainder of his time of duty.
While I have NO experience with this sorta thing, it might be nice to let the guy have a few days to do EXACTLY what HE wants, even if its just sit in his underwear eating cheetos and watching PBS all day. Some times its just nice to decompress and REALLY relax IMO.
I have to say, there’s nothing better than watching servicemen and women coming home. I got to watch three Air National Guard folks get picked up by their families this summer, and it almost moved me to tears.
Not so little! But thanks to all for the warm wishes.
One of the things he mentioned is that random strangers tended to stop him (he has to wear his BDUs while traveling) and do the “Thanks for your service” to him. When he stepped off the plane, he had some chocolate cake someone presented him with because he was in the service.
As I type, he is upstairs with a buddy of his, playing some computer game over the Internet.
Your advice is cogent and shall be followed. Yesterday his phone alarm went off, because he had not reset it from waking him for his normal duty day. It is set to go off at 4:30am Iraq time.
Tell him there a few crazy liberals around here that want to thank him as well. If a civilian could render him a formal salute, I would. Buy him a beer or three and send me the tab.