Things Most Important

Deployments are funny things. In many ways, they're much easier on soldiers than the day to day back home. On mission days, we show up, prep the trucks, roll out and do the mission, and come back and relax. On days we're not on mission, we perform preventative and any necessary maintenance, and relax. However, in the back of our minds, we're always prepared for when things might turn bad...which is something we needn't worry about back home. Also for many, thoughts of loved ones left behind for a year wear on the nerves. Since I have no wife or kids to worry about, I don't experience that as much, but I see the stress on many of my fellow soldiers' faces. One of the sergeants in my platoon left his 2 day old daughter back in the States. When he returns, she'll be a year old, and he'll have missed all of that. Skype is a wonderful thing in that situation, but I can't imagine not being able to hold my child when she's sick or can't sleep. We may be an Aid and Assist Brigade (NOT a combat brigade, mind you), but we're still fighting our own battles in addition to an active insurgency every day that we're over here. Now that we've been gone for a month and a half, the superficial things we miss are just that. We are all fighting the same things our families back home are fighting: separation. So often, we take for granted simple things like a hug from your grandmother, or a home-cooked meal with your family. Sometimes, it takes a trip to Iraq to realize what is really important in your life. What we're doing here now in Iraq is great, but what I have back in the US is much more meaningful to me.