War comes home
My happy Thanksgiving came to a crashing halt for a while when my brother (who is serving in the Navy) informed me that he’s being shipped off to Iraq. On December 15. For a year.
We knew this would be a possibility, since he told us almost a year ago that he may be sent over to Iraq or Afghanistan to do contract work. At least he’s not (directly) on the front line - he should be in the Green Zone for most of the time. It makes him in a bit safer than my cousin, who is on convoy duty for at least 15 months with the Army.
It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to see him before he goes, mostly since he’s in Pittsburgh and we’re in Boston, so it’s a bit of a trip for us, and he’s got three weeks of training before going, which is pretty much now until Dec. 15. He said he’ll have good Internet and phone access, so he can at least get and send e-mail and call his girlfriend (and us) regularly. We’ll also get a wish list from him - probably just about Christmastime - for things he’d like that he doesn’t have.
I have far too many thoughts running through my brain to go more into this, but suffice to say: please keep him in your thoughts. He’s doing the job he signed up for, and I’m sure he’ll do that job the best he can.