Yesterday afternoon we landed in America. But I am not home yet. I and everybody else who is out processing from Iraq and Afghanistan cannot leave post until all the paperwork is done. I am in the advance group so we will be on Fort Dix for another three weeks.
But at least we are in America. It is nice to be in my home country even if I can't go home. The Army is a great place to learn patience--or to find out you can't.
This morning in the welcome before 7 1/2 hours of briefings, a colonel told us he thought he was ready to go back to civilian life after his first deployment in 2004. He returned to his job as a marketing manager for a large pharmaceutical company. In a meeting that was dragging on because everyone was waiting for someone else to do something, he stood up and said, "Enough, it's time to make a God-damned decision." He decided to be full time in the Army after that.
I can imagine that in the nasty days of 2004 the transition from life under fire to life in meetings was abrupt. For me, the last few months have almost been life a planned transition back to "the world." I have been working in an office, more importantly a quiet office, with very polite people around me. The Army would blow in and out of the doors when there was an emergency, but then calm resumed.
And now I have three weeks of paperwork in America instead of the usual rush. I can't wait to be a civilian again. I'll just be serving one weekend a month from now until they throw me out for being to old (age 60).
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Welcome back! It is a good feeling to be back, I came home with the 628th a couple of weeks ago. I have been quietly reading your blog since around July or so. It's great and look forward to each new post. Once again welcome back! and Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back and thank you for your service! Your blog has a been a lifeline for me for information from Adder. There will definitely be a void of information now that you are stateside. Your thoughts and stories have been a delight to read each day.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading about how your transition back to "civilian life" goes for you. Please keep us posted!
Thanks again for terrific work.
A devoted reader and military spouse.
That colonel kind of sounds like Nancy. With the two of them here, everything would get done!
ReplyDelete"Too old" - applied to you it's hard to figure. I guess bureaucracy does have the last word!
ReplyDeleteHey Neil, I'm glad you're back in America and I will look forward to speaking with you soon.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. Sorry the internet isn't working as well, but as you can see we did save you some winter weather to enjoy on homecoming. God bless.
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