I have made it "home" so to speak. After about 3 days, 3 countries, 3 planes, 1 cold shower and 9 hours of sleep I've arrived. It was a bitter sweet arrival to Kandahar, feeling the pain of leaving my beautiful family behind yet feeling the joy of seeing my comrades here again AND dare I mention the fact that I'm in the down hill slide of the tour now. There's joy in just that alone.
On the trip back Goddard got "stuck" in Qatar for a day and couldn't believe that was a base supporting a war. The roads were paved, not dirt or gravel. People appeared generally happy and well. Uniforms were pressed and there was a huge dry cleaner there. Multiple coffee shops to include a Duncan Donuts. What the hell? A Duncan Donuts........in "theater." They get to drink 3 alcoholic beverages a day, not that that matters! They have a wine bar and several pubs. A Chilis for crying out loud. So, we went to the pub with this Army pilot we met at dinner. Nice guy, showed us the turf, had a few drinks and all of us dreamed in union about transferring to the Air Force. Aim High! It's the better life, for sure.
Back to reality. The beer, coffee and asphalt were nice but dirt, gravel and the sound of the Mullah screaming in the wind calls to me telling me that there is more to be done ........it says.......help the helpless, help the hopeless, make a difference. That can mean assist the needy in a new testament way or kill the enemy in old testament style. I'm partial to both. Let come what may.
"Fear breads a deadening caution, a holding back, a stagnant waiting until people no longer can recall what they are waiting for or saving themselves for. When we fear failure more than we love life; when we are dominated by thoughts of what we might have been rather than by thoughts of what we might become; when we are haunted by the disparity between our ideal self and our real self; when we are tormented by guilt, shame, remorse, and self-condemnation, we deny our faith in the God of love." Brennan Manning
3 comments:
If you'd get out from behind the steering wheel your boots would be dirty, too. Hope you had a good time; sorry you had to come back.
C
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 11/26/2007 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...
Glad you made it back to God's country, forgotten, but God's nonetheless (but don't tell the natives that). It was good to get to chat with you and I am glad ya'll got to enjoy the downtime time.
Take care bro, I will be in touch!
SGP
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