I watched the towers fall in school. It was hard concentrating the rest of the day, football practice was short, and I remember the lines at the gas station. I'm sorry, we failed to protect you.
I had decided a few years before that I wanted to experience combat, so I wasn't reacting in hatred of anyone. I enlisted 15 months later, during a war. I'm sorry, nothing could change my mind.
I was excited when we were told that we were deploying, it was a dream come true. I had to finish that semester, and stayed around the college working all summer. I'm sorry I didn't come home.
I hurt myself in training, just rolling around with a guy. I'm going to miss deploying for this??? I can walk, I can jog, I'm fine. I'm too close to leave, not over this. I'm sorry, I wasn't missing this.
I got to Iraq, and we started getting to work. It was easy to . I didn't call much, and I didn't email many details. I'm sorry I lied when I did.
I always looked forward to the packages from home. The big box of sunflower seeds, the decks of cards, the golf balls, the trays of rice krispies and the random gifts I got for my hooch. I'm sorry I didn't say thanks.
The news that we'd lost a guy hit us hard. The second loss hit us harder. Neither one was in my platoon, both had families. I'm sorry I didn't know you guys better.
"You'd better get your head down, this area's been hot the past week". Seconds later, I heard and felt the explosion two trucks back. "We're gonna have to stop, he's veering off the road and not correcting it", I said. I'm sorry I didn't see it before it went off.
I never thanked our leadership, for all their hard work. They kept us safe, kept us alive, brought us back home. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate everything you did.
I'm still not telling you things, there are things that I'm keeping inside because you won't understand them. I'm sorry I can't explain things.
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I was listening to Jocko podcast #42 and thought about this. About the way that we go to war and don't communicate as much as our families want. We lie to our families so that they can live normal lives back home without worrying about us.
When we're overseas, we're intentionally ignoring our families in some instances. There are things we can't say to keep ourselves safe, that we can't say because we can't explain it, and that we can't say because we're just not thinking about it. We don't want to worry our families (even though going silent really doesn't help), and we've got to stay focused on what's over there with us. That's how we come home.
I've got to thank "Spider Mike". He wanted us all to come home, and our section all made it. I don't remember ever thanking him specifically for that, I didn't anways understand why he was doing the things that he was, but there are a few times that stick out to me that show me just how much he cared about his guys (and gals). So thank you, Sarge, and the rest of the leadership that kept the vehicles moving and our morale high.
I never thanked our leadership, for all their hard work. They kept us safe, kept us alive, brought us back home. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate everything you did.
I'm still not telling you things, there are things that I'm keeping inside because you won't understand them. I'm sorry I can't explain things.
________________________________________________________
I was listening to Jocko podcast #42 and thought about this. About the way that we go to war and don't communicate as much as our families want. We lie to our families so that they can live normal lives back home without worrying about us.
When we're overseas, we're intentionally ignoring our families in some instances. There are things we can't say to keep ourselves safe, that we can't say because we can't explain it, and that we can't say because we're just not thinking about it. We don't want to worry our families (even though going silent really doesn't help), and we've got to stay focused on what's over there with us. That's how we come home.
I've got to thank "Spider Mike". He wanted us all to come home, and our section all made it. I don't remember ever thanking him specifically for that, I didn't anways understand why he was doing the things that he was, but there are a few times that stick out to me that show me just how much he cared about his guys (and gals). So thank you, Sarge, and the rest of the leadership that kept the vehicles moving and our morale high.
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