When the Smoke Clears

My grandmother passed away this week. The sadness I feel is not for her passing, though I will miss her, rather it is a selfish sadness that I cannot be at her funeral. The Army won’t let me, and the official message about it got to me much too late to do anything about it. [...]

TO: Children
RE: Current Issues
In light of the recent economic downturn, we have had to make cutbacks, so the fewer number of helpers I have this year means I cannot respond to each of you individually.
First, I would like to address logisitcs. Stop it with the stockings. Your parents haven’t bothered to have the chimney [...]

Mail showed up. It’s been sorted, brought out to us, etc.
It makes a big difference here. We don’t just get to go shopping.
Mail is sporadic at best. Often the powers that be don’t like sending airplanes out to us. There aren’t enough of us to warrant it. Ticks me off to no [...]

My friend died last night. I cannot come home to be there for someone I love, to hold her hand one last time as her health deteriorated. I cannot come back to attend a funeral. Or a wake. Or any other memorial. I have to remain here. It is probably the hardest part of deployment: [...]