I have a cousin who is coming back from Iraq, and will be spending a night with me in Baltimore before flying back to his base in Washington.
I’m pretty much just planning on taking him out to a good place to eat, get some steak and some beers.
Just wondering if there’s anything that I wouldn’t think of that might be cool to have/do/see when he gets here.
Hookers or even titty bars are really out of the question.
Inner harbor sounds like a plan to me. I suppose he might want to catch up on US television.
(What is that barbecue place some sports figure has/had in Baltimore?)
I would say the most important thing after coming back from a deployment, combat or otherwise, is good food and relaxation. If it was me going to Baltimore I would say get me some crabcakes. And pussy.
Give him an extra blanket. One soldier I knew said 80 degrees felt like FREEZING to him after spending time over there.
Boog’s BBQ, run by former Oriole star Boog Powell.
Inner Harbor is a good call, as is Fels Point.
I know things to do in Baltimore.
I just thought that maybe there was something specific to coming back from being over there for a while that might stand out. . .like he craved milk duds, or q-tips, or moisturized fanny wipes.
Well, liquor, but you probably have that covered.
I have no firsthand knowledge but perhaps if he’s been spending a lot of time in cities where everyone who isn’t another American soldier is a potential threat he’d like to do something quiet where he isn’t surrounded by crowds? For example instead of a busy, loud steakhouse, take him to one of those places where you’re basically in a private booth and it feels like you’re in your own personal members-only club.
Tell me how this goes btw. A friend of mine in the Air Force just got deployed and I’m wondering what we can do for him when he gets back.
I suggest what your friend lacked mosat of all were choices. Let him do whatever he wants.
If I’d have to pick something, it would be something very quiet. A picnic at an out of the way park or a quiet beach – if you can find any of those things anywhere near Baltimore.
Maybe a classical music concert.
Wharf Rat is nice but too close to Inner Harbor if he’s nervous about crowds. I’d say nice dinner, drive out to the zoo, then back to the inner harbor to look at Fort McHenry. That’s what I’d do and I’m in Afghanistan right now.
The aquarium might be a good choice. Peace and quiet without looming danger, and as you know, Baltimore has a good one.
It’s close to all the fun stuff to do afterward, too.
I hate to be the one to say this to you, but…everyone is different. I can understand why everyone is saying he’ll want to be alone, but the loneliness was one of the most crushing aspects of Iraq. I wanted to be surrounded by thousands of people when I came home. It’s been over a year and I’m still not over that loneliness (not in a psycho-problems kind of way, just a new personality trait).
Keep in mind that the plane doesn’t take off from Iraq and land in Baltimore. He’ll be going through Kuwait (complete w/ burger kings, etc) and a demobilization station. He’ll have been out of combat for a week or two and in the US for days. YMMV.
I would have mentioned the aquarium, but I cannot spell it. Wet, cool, peaceful, sounds great.
I am not a soldier, but I did spend over two years in Iraq as a foreign aid worker, living in the city away from the protection of the green zone. Mostly what I wanted to do was to just relax. I didn’t want to answer a bunch of stupid questions: what did you eat? Where did you live? Was it hot? Do the Iraqis hate us? blah blah blah.
I also didn’t want a big deal made. I wanted to have a good meal, a beer, and take it slow. Walking around downtown made me anxious as did being in crowds. I didn’t like loud noises, I didn’t want to walk into a big loud Best Buy or grocery store with a million things going on. I wanted to sit with people who could relax enough to STFU for ten minutes without asking me a question. But as others have said, everyone is different. If we went somewhere and I said that I wanted to leave that meant I wanted to leave RFN and I didn’t want anyone to make a big deal out of it.
I agree that everyone is different. When I got back from Iraq the last thing I wanted to do was be in a big crowd. No reason deeper than I had been stuck around the same group of people the entire deployment without a day off. All I wanted to do was go to sleep, relax and get really drunk.
So yeah, beer sounds good.
P.S. Oh yeah, don’t ask too many questions. If he wants to talk, he’ll talk. But for the most part, it’s fun ‘not being in the military’ for a while.
That sounds like good advice. Especially since my tendencies are to talk and ask a lot of questions of people.
He’s actually flying from Iraw to (he said) Bahrain, Germany, Ireland(?), Maine, then Baltimore.
Probably going to want to rest a little, if I had to guess.
That’s a lot like I had to fly at times. Nonstop flights are generally reserved for bombs.
First hit the bar and have a few beers and take it from there…my guess is he will want a good pizza or buffalo wings or Big Mac or some junk food he hasn’t had in a long while.
Maybe have a couple of funny DVD’s at home to pick from when you get back, and then kick back and have a few more beers and relax.