My son deployed to the middle east... ** Update - We have boots in the house! ** (1 Viewer)

top dog said:

  Now they are required to wear masks outside of the barracks because it has hit the bases over there a bit.  Those guys are all young and in great shape so I'm not too worried about them.  

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Glad to hear things are going about  as well as could be expected. 

FWIW, and hopefully this puts you at ease, but the mask policy is uniform currently across all DoD bases including stateside ones. I'm WFH as a Navy contractor but if I needed to go into the office, I'm required to wear one.

Thank you for your son's service and have a Happy Easter with the family.

PIK95 said:

HEY!  I did that.  I would rather be safe than sorry, lol.  Good to hear everyone is getting by over there.  Gotta be weird for them.

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 No offense intended to those who did.  I understand the rationale behind that, but she lives alone and putting thousands into her bedroom didn't seem like a good plan. I told her to take a couple hundred and put it in the safe.  In case the ATMs and card readers aren't working someday for whatever reason.  I also told her that someone can break into her house and steal that safe, less likely for the banks to collapse.  And if that happened, the thousands they had in savings won't really matter much unless she had converted that to ammo! 

JaxBill said:

Glad to hear things are going about  as well as could be expected. 

FWIW, and hopefully this puts you at ease, but the mask policy is uniform currently across all DoD bases including stateside ones. I'm WFH as a Navy contractor but if I needed to go into the office, I'm required to wear one.

Thank you for your son's service and have a Happy Easter with the family.

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That's good to hear.  I wasn't really worried about him.  I knew it was a precaution and was going to be mandatory once the CDC recommended it.  They have had a few cases over there, but nothing like what we have here stateside.  They said in a FRG call that it was kind of weird knowing that the families at home were in a much more dangerous situation with the COVID than they are right now.  Like the roles have reversed in a way.  

*** UPDATE - SON IS BACK ON USA MAINLAND SOIL ***

Just got the word today that he landed today on USA soil here in the states. Not sure when he will actually come home yet as COVID has all of their traditional processes of coming home all thrown out of whack. He should know when he gets to Texas when he will officially be home. Should be within 2 weeks or so. We threw him a nice going away party when he left, but won't be able to do the welcome home party like we wanted due to the pandemic. Still plan on getting as many people as we can to line the street with flags and signs to welcome him back. 

It's been almost a year since he's been gone. He daughter was a couple days old. She took her first steps the other day. His son is almost 3 and is a different kid than when he left. There will be a huge adjustment period where he comes home and re-inserts himself into their lives. My wife is afraid that he will come home she will be pushed aside. Which she will be to some extent. We've been parents to our grand children for the past year. I'm excited to be a grandpa again. The grandkids come over every day. Eat dinner with us. Hell, my grandson spends probably 4 nights a week at our house. It has been awesome but I'll be happy to breathe a bit as well.

The transition back into civilian life again will be interesting to watch for him. His family has grown up for a year. The country he left is no the country he is coming home to. We are much more divided and he has no idea the #### show of COVID he is coming home to. His wife has told me about it, but I don't think he realizes how much that has really changed all of our lives.

Oh, and while he was in Iraq he re-enlisted for another 6 years. I'm sure this won't be the last deployment. At least his kids will be a bit older next time around.

Great news. Thanks for the update!

On Friday night our son came home to his family. We tried to give him the best welcome home celebration we could during a pandemic. My wife and daughter-in-law made shirts for a number of the immediate family. They filled the yard with signs welcoming him home. Lots of balloons and flags. https://imgur.com/a/k9YdliA 

He was landing at the airport at 9 pm so the yard was decorated for most of the day. I think the coolest moment of the day was when I was approached by a neighbor I had never met. I was getting something outside in my car and he came walking up on the sidewalk... "Hey! What time does Sarge get home tonight?" (We had a big welcome home Sargent _____" in the yard).  I told him pretty late, wasn't landing until 9 pm. He asked if it would be ok if they came down and clapped for him when he arrived at home. I told him of course they could do that and was humbled by their request. 

As the night went on we had about a dozen people waiting for him in the front yards. Our family and a couple of his closet friends. As we were getting ready for him to come home from the airport with my daughter-in-law I looked up and here came another group of people across the street. All with lawn chairs and flags. It was the neighbor from around the corner and other neighbors that he talked to. My wife and I walked over to meet them. She was unable to keep the tears back. Here was this group of people we didn't know that took the time out of their Friday evening to welcome home a soldier. It was pretty awesome. With all the nonsense we have going on in this world to see this showing of appreciation meant more than any of them even could know. 

Our grandson didn't know his daddy was coming home. All he knew was "we were having a party!".  When they finally pulled down the street we had people lined up on the street holding signs and cheering for him. When he got out of the car his son ran up to him and jumped into his arms. Daddy was home. After they had their moment his wife brought him his 11 month old daughter. He was their for 4 days when she was born, then was back on orders. We were all anxious to see what she would do. She doesn't like people she doesn't know. She will cry if someone gets to close to her she hasn't been around. He had talked to her via facetime while he was gone, but she is only 11 months old. She had no idea what any of that was. He crouched down to where mom was holding her and smiled at her. Told her "Hello beautiful". She looked at him with those unsure eyes, looked back at her mother and then let him take her and give her a big hug. I think that was when I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. At one point I found my wife and gave her a big old hug. Told her "You can finally breathe again". It was a LONG deployment for her. While I'm pretty good at ignoring the things I can't control, she is a mom and can't turn that part off in her. She held that family together while never being able to be fully whole herself. 

In these past 11 months the world has been pretty chaotic. Our son left to go serve in another country. We took on the role of the other parent for our grandchildren. Then we had a pandemic, riots, race issues, and absolute political nastiness everywhere.  On Friday we saw the awesome side of our community and friends. 

Thanks for letting me share these things on here. Until you go through one of these things, it is hard to understand how difficult it really is. The appreciation I've gained for other military families is enormous. The sacrifices everyone makes to serve this country is amazing. Those of you who are military that have shown support, shared stories... Thank You for doing what the rest of us can't or aren't willing to do!

Oh... And we saved the last army guy in the jar for Daddy and son to move together... https://imgur.com/gallery/dGRZ66M

Thanks for sharing and to your son for his service! Glad to hear he made it home safely!!

I'm standing on the sidewalk in NYC, reading this update and weeping. Thank you for sharing it,  so happy for all of you to have your hero home.

Sure is dusty around here.

Great story.  Thanks for your son's service. 

Foosball God said:

Sure is dusty around here.

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Sure is. 

Love a good homecoming story. Spent a few minutes watching the only video I could find from when we flew back to base from our deployment in 2011.

I didn't cry either.

Excellent story and I'm glad he's home safe with the family.  Sounds like quite the reunion.  Thanks for posting and thank him for his service.  

appreciated your story ... my son just enlisted .

Great to hear.  Wish I had caught this earlier being in NE Ohio myself I could have reached out.  My nephew graduated from Parris Island last May and so far he's stayed stateside so we're thankful for that.  Thank your son for his service on my behalf.

Wu-banger said:

appreciated your story ... my son just enlisted .

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It is a humbling experience for a parent when your child enlists. You go from being so involved in their life to being in control of nothing. The pride you hold is pretty cool though. My father was military. Fought in the Korean War. Ran our house like he was still a drill instructor. The military life was not something I wanted when I became an adult. It made my father pretty proud when his grandson enlisted. It has made my son a better person, hopefully your son will get great things out of service.

 <- To your son's safety!

top dog said:

It is a humbling experience for a parent when your child enlists. You go from being so involved in their life to being in control of nothing. The pride you hold is pretty cool though. My father was military. Fought in the Korean War. Ran our house like he was still a drill instructor. The military life was not something I wanted when I became an adult. It made my father pretty proud when his grandson enlisted. It has made my son a better person, hopefully your son will get great things out of service.

 <- To your son's safety!

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Wow, great insight ...!! Thank You Sir