WHEN A SOLDIER COMES HOME

ALL I ASK IS “TO PASS IT ON!”


WHEN A SOLDIER COMES HOME

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When a soldier comes home, he finds it hard.... ..to listen to his son whine about being bored.



....to keep a straight face when people complain about potholes.



to be tolerant of people who complain about the hassle of getting ready for work.



...to be understanding when a co-worker complains about a bad night’s sleep.



..to be silent when people pray to God for a new car.



....to control his panic when his wife tells him he needs to drive slower.



..to be compassionate when a businessman expresses a fear of flying.



.....to keep from laughing when anxious parents say they’re afraid to send

their kids off to summer camp.



.....to keep from ridiculing someone who complains about hot weather.



....to control his frustration when a colleague gripes about his coffee being cold.



....to remain calm when his daughter complains about having to walk the dog.



......to be civil to people who complain about their jobs.



.....to just walk away when someone says they only get two weeks of vacation a year.



....to be forgiving when someone says how hard it is to have a new baby in the house.

The only thing harder than being a Soldier...



Is loving one.

 

semper fi and never forget

 

Oooh- rah!

 

When a soldier comes home, it does well to remember where he or she returned from, what they experienced there, why and who sent them there, and what their needs are upon returning....empathy rather than sympathy, encouragement rather than discouragement, respect rather than disrespect, regardless of one's feelings about the government's deployment of them in conflicts overseas.

 

Big cudos to @Legion489 for reminding everyone. This crap isn't over and young men and women come home everyday that don't/can't fit in. I don't worry too much about the old sweats because either they solved it or their dead, drinking themselves to an early grave, or on pills and therapy or whatever but the young folk...different story.

Whenever I see something like this I think of Brian. A son of a very good friend of mine who also was an expat (now home in Florida contracted to SOCOM). Brian decided to go against the grain and become a Marine (father was AF). He came through my FOB while going into Afghanistan for his tour of duty and his father called me (who was in Qatar at the time) and said, "Can you grab Brian and let me talk to him?" Sure. I'm comms. I grabbed the kid's Butterbar (2nd Lt.) brow beat him and had the kid on a phone to his dad. The kid I saw was like any other healthy American kid of 19, strong, well fed, confident, cheerful and excited. The kid I picked up a tour later was...old, untrusting, thin, who still tried to be the old guy but it wasn't there. He volunteered for convoy duty, a lot of convoy duty and after numerous engagements he finally hit an IED. No, he wasn't maimed. But, others in the armored up was killed. He is home now and working through it...the sweats, the can't sleep for no reason, the walk into a room and it just feels bad (you put your back to the wall and watch entrances)... I guess what I want to say is unless you have been there you cannot understand so don't try. But, you need to understand, without question, that it takes time to change. Understand.

Okay, I will get off my soapbox now...but Brian made it, (thank God), for some reason I feel attach to him because I saw the 19 year old before and after. My own story? It's long. But, the difference is age and experience... Good on you @Legion489

 

I hear that and know the feeling. 20yr Retired Army......Desert Shield, Desert Storm, OIF I, OIF III, and 3mos in AFG.

Civilians piss me off.............a lot!

 

My war was over 45 years ago, and some of those things still pop up on occasion...it gets a lot better, but never really goes away.

 

Same here. It was bad when I first got back stateside; I guess it was walking out of something I was use to into a strange environment that triggered it, made a fool of myself in public a few times I thought I was rid of it but guess it truly never goes away. Much better now. One of the funny things that use to hit me when I first got back was...beards. LOL! Every time I saw a young man with a beard I went into overly paranoid situation awareness mode, nervousness, couldn't take my eyes off them. LOL! And, then, of course, any loud noise and I was on the ground. Made a fool of myself twice in grocers stores. Thankfully, the embarrassment of the situation helped to cure my bearded phobia. LOL!!!

 

My Respects.