Another Marine Family Journey- Afghanistan (2010): Together Again

Greetings,

OK, I couldn’t stop the blog just yet. The most important part of this whole deployment is just now taking place and I have to make sure it’s also documented as part of this journey. This is a “family post”; no deep insights, no politics, and no military discussions. It’s just about having your family together again and appreciating the many blessings we have.

To be perfectly honest, Lu and I have had a tough time adjusting. Even after welcoming Brian home to Camp Pendleton two weeks ago it still hasn’t seemed real. When we talked to Brian on the phone over the past week it’s hard to not continue to picture him talking to us from a gun turret in Afghanistan instead of California. For the past seven months the gun turret was the reality.

Hopefully, the next week will help all of us adjust to the new normal- whatever that is.

Brian came home on Saturday. The 30-day post-deployment leave-block for those just returning started on Thursday. He’s just going to take a week now and save the rest of his days so he can head home permanently in late November or early December. His enlistment ends on December 22 but he’ll use his saved days and go on terminal leave and finish his time here at home.

We met him at the airport with our “Welcome Home Marine” banner. Lu lined the yard with little American flags. Even though Brian can do without it, we wanted everyone to know that our Marine was home.

Brian was finally able to meet his nephew/godson (Ethan was wearing cammie pants and a “Welcome Home Uncle Brian” marine t-shirt). It didn’t take them very long to connect and it was a beautiful thing to watch. It was wonderful to just have all of us together in one room again. Lu made her traditional spaghetti dinner and the prayers before the meal had a very special meaning for all of us. Lu and I had to wipe away the tears on a couple of occasions.

Brian plans on relaxing this week. We all know it’s going to take a lot longer than a couple of weeks to comprehend and adjust to what he has been through over the past seven months. As we have learned to do very well over the past four years, we’ll just take it one day at a time. We’re going to enjoy the time we have together and help him in whatever way we can. It’s just nice to finally be together and not be thinking about another deployment just around the corner. This is a much nicer feeling.