“I wasn’t born here, but I got here as soon as I could!”
That’s a bumper sticker I use to see all the time while wasting many hours of my life sitting in Dallas traffic. Originally I was bothered by the exorbitant amount of pride this state had in itself, but now I’d gladly put this sticker on the back of my truck declaring my giddiness to be back in the Lone Star State.
It has taken me a few days to get readjusted to civilian life. As I sit here, unshaven, in my non-issued shorts and T-shirt, laptop resting on my legs, my fungus covered feet (thank you Iraq) propped up on the coffee table of Alissa’s apartment, watching TV with commercials, I remember that I use to take this all for granted. Let me say that I am now relishing in all of the little freedoms that I’ve lacked in the last year.
I spent the weekend at my parent’s house in Gatesville. It was great to see them and I’m glad that I didn’t have to battle through the hype of a large welcome home party at their hands. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a get together with friends and family to celebrate my return, but I think its going to be a while before I feel like commemorating my arrival back in the states with food, alcohol, music and people. I still hate most people, but I think that will change the longer I don’t have to lug around body armor or wear combat boots.
I’m trudging through all the things that I need to do now that I’m back. Uncle Sam still has a hold of me for a while before I return to work at my civilian job and I intend to use that time to do some important things, like finding a place to live, getting my stuff out of storage, getting rid of all my Army stuff, and consuming as much Blue Bell ice cream that my body can retain. Since I don’t have to keep myself in “army shape” any longer, I’m contemplating a new career in sumo wrestling. Now if I can only get sponsored by Papa John and Jason’s Deli...
My journey to Iraq and back is over and I hope that the blog has helped those friends, families and strangers who were interested to stay informed of the happenings of little ol’ me. Thank you for everyone who supported me and the rest of the gang with comments, letters, packages and prayers. I didn’t get to write as much as I would have liked to, but it’s not like I want to go back to make up for my lack of blogging. There were issues that I couldn’t write about, and there were issues that I just plain didn’t want to write about, but all of them are still creeping and crawling in my head searching for a stream of coherent words that might lone day describe them. They say hindsight is 20/20, so stop by now and then to see what babble I've jotted down. Maybe as time rolls on I’ll try to reflect on my Iraq experiences with a little more clarity than I am now in my current Ben and Jerry’s induced comma.
To all those who are still in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else that body armor and foot fungus is present, please be safe, hurry home, and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
That’s a bumper sticker I use to see all the time while wasting many hours of my life sitting in Dallas traffic. Originally I was bothered by the exorbitant amount of pride this state had in itself, but now I’d gladly put this sticker on the back of my truck declaring my giddiness to be back in the Lone Star State.
It has taken me a few days to get readjusted to civilian life. As I sit here, unshaven, in my non-issued shorts and T-shirt, laptop resting on my legs, my fungus covered feet (thank you Iraq) propped up on the coffee table of Alissa’s apartment, watching TV with commercials, I remember that I use to take this all for granted. Let me say that I am now relishing in all of the little freedoms that I’ve lacked in the last year.
I spent the weekend at my parent’s house in Gatesville. It was great to see them and I’m glad that I didn’t have to battle through the hype of a large welcome home party at their hands. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a get together with friends and family to celebrate my return, but I think its going to be a while before I feel like commemorating my arrival back in the states with food, alcohol, music and people. I still hate most people, but I think that will change the longer I don’t have to lug around body armor or wear combat boots.
I’m trudging through all the things that I need to do now that I’m back. Uncle Sam still has a hold of me for a while before I return to work at my civilian job and I intend to use that time to do some important things, like finding a place to live, getting my stuff out of storage, getting rid of all my Army stuff, and consuming as much Blue Bell ice cream that my body can retain. Since I don’t have to keep myself in “army shape” any longer, I’m contemplating a new career in sumo wrestling. Now if I can only get sponsored by Papa John and Jason’s Deli...
My journey to Iraq and back is over and I hope that the blog has helped those friends, families and strangers who were interested to stay informed of the happenings of little ol’ me. Thank you for everyone who supported me and the rest of the gang with comments, letters, packages and prayers. I didn’t get to write as much as I would have liked to, but it’s not like I want to go back to make up for my lack of blogging. There were issues that I couldn’t write about, and there were issues that I just plain didn’t want to write about, but all of them are still creeping and crawling in my head searching for a stream of coherent words that might lone day describe them. They say hindsight is 20/20, so stop by now and then to see what babble I've jotted down. Maybe as time rolls on I’ll try to reflect on my Iraq experiences with a little more clarity than I am now in my current Ben and Jerry’s induced comma.
To all those who are still in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else that body armor and foot fungus is present, please be safe, hurry home, and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Me and the parental unit's at their house
4 comments:
Welcome home--I've been lurking around your site for a while. Casino Royale being one of my fav flicks, your blogname continues to crack me up. Thanks for going--you probaly could have dodged it but didn't and you get credit for that, at least from me. Take care, have a great rest of your life!
mamaworecombatboots
Thanks for the credit. I deployed with a lot of great folks who answered the call and I was proud to serve with each and every one of them.
WELCOME HOME GLEN. BEANS MOM
Looks like everyone is happy. Texas is the place to be!
Post a Comment