Reflections

Day 7
Had an interesting discussion with one of the guys in my unit this morning. It kind of wandered across a pretty good range of topics. He’s a police officer in Texas. Nice guy. This deployment has helped him to decide that he will leave the Navy Reserves. He does not want to be in the position of having to leave his family again. I’m wrestling with that same issue. However, I think that it will be important to wait for about six months to gain a better perspective. I miss my family emmensely. Everyone over here does. That is probably the first thing every one talks about. Especially those who are married and have kids at home. My friend has very young children at home. He will miss events in their lives that he’ll never get back. This is less of an issue with older kids because they usually don’t change drastically in the course of six to eight months.

What my friend and I cannot see now is how it will impact us and our family to have participated in some thing much bigger than ourselves. Obviously, we can’t possibly know how a decision we make today will affect us in five years. But I think that my perspective on having participated in OIF will change of the course of six to eight months after my return. Right now all I can see is the pain and grief of separation, the excitement and thrill of doing my job, the boredom between watches. Once I have returned to the warmth, safety and love of my home and security of my civilian job I will have the opportunity to reflect on my time here. I think that only then will I be able to put the experience into perspective against the larger scheme of life. I think it is nearly impossible to see or determine what God is doing in a person’s life until God’s work is completed.

Aloha