Driver sits across from me at the table, shifting nervously in his chair. He looks exhausted, even though we went to bed early last night. This morning he slept through PT which is not at all like him. Earlier I teased him -- "the night we go to bed early is the day you wake up late!" Driver didn't think it was very funny.
I ask him what time he went to bed. Ten thirty, but he didn't sleep well. Why? Doesn't want to talk about it. Why? Kept waking up. Why? What was bothering him? Doesn't want to talk about it, he's afraid that he'll make me upset. What kept him up? A dream. What kind of dream? A bad one.
From there he launches into the explanation of his dream while I listen intently. In the dream, he was out on a mission. His convoy was hit, complex attack. Chaos everywhere. He jumped out of his vehicle, runs for his friend and pulls her along with him. They run and run and run, only to have an insurgent pull a handgun on them. The dream ends when a RPG blows up his head.
As long as there aren't more like that, I'm not worried. But so much for not having nightmares.
They asked for volunteers, so I volunteered. I deployed and spent a year in the sandbox. I came home. The Army decided I was too broken to serve any longer and gave me temporary medical retirement. I'm a civilian again and married right back in. My husband is gearing to deploy. In the meantime, I have a strange love-hate relationship with the Army. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it doesn't.
About Me
- Techno
- I'm a contradiction all by myself. Soldier and student. Stargazer and computer geek. Boots and music. Paper pusher and globetrotter. It all works out in the end.
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A bit of history...
There was a call for volunteers to deploy in Spring of 2006. I volunteered, was selected, passed the screening process, and was sent to reclassification training to go from being a bandsman to a human resource specialist. After graduation, I was home for roughly a month. I met the rest of my new unit right before we were sent to mobilization training. Once validated, we were sent overseas in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I left university, quit my job, dumped my foreign boyfriend, and said a few very painful goodbyes. But I don't regret it one bit.
In early August, I was MEDEVAC'd out of the desert. My unit was just a few weeks away from going home. Now my only job is to get better. The irony is that they returned to their homes before I did.The Army has offered me disability and temporary retirement pay. I'm taking it. Bye bye combat boots.
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