Tonight Im reminded of a few evenings I had last year in a far away place. Perhaps it is the news that people I know are being sent back to Iraq that triggered it. Maybe it was the stars in the sky tonight competing with the flares and artillery fire I can observe and feel from my back deck. The sound of freedom! Last year there were times when I would hang up my video call with my family. It was the end of a long day for me but they were just getting their day started. The kids off to school, my wife keeping her mind busy at work. Around me, falling darkness, but a bright sunny morning on the other end of that video chat. The duality of war and modern communications... Quite often, just as I hung up, the timing worked out where war machines would be in full swing. Apaches flew directly over my stack of shipping containers they made into a small apartment building. I could hear all manner of jets taking off, screaming into the night sky. The all too distinct sound of Predator drones gaining altitude overhead, again, seemingly straight over my balcony this time of evening. Oh, and the endless drone of generators and tactical trucks and the pungent smell of diesel and waste water trucks in the cooling night air, cant forget that. But, through it all, through the few feet of space between the 20 foot high blast walls and the roof line of my shipping container apartment I could see the entire Milky Way each evening after the dust settled and the clouds melted away. Staring at that sky would take me away briefly and muffle or mute out all that sound and smell. It was beautiful and it was something I came to appreciate in the relative lack of light at night. It was one shining moment of solitude for me each day because for some odd reason no one else in my little complex ever seemed to go out on their balcony at night. Their loss. Tonight, knowing that people I help every day are going back into the maw, back into the fight against evil, Im drawn back in a little bit too. I remember every night watching those Apaches switch off their marker lights and disappear into the blackness as they crossed the boundary of the base. I hoped that they went out and cleaned just a little bit more evil off this beautiful planet floating among those stars in the sky each time they did. I remember wishing that each crew would come back and know they made a difference in the world for someone and be able to sleep soundly that next day. Tonight I hope that those training to go again find their peace of mind while theyre gone and know that someone back here will keep their loved ones safe for them. I hope.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 03:32:06 +0000