Veterans day, a unique experience...

Veterans day 2012,… on the plane to Afghanistan.  It seems surreal.  So far the experience of deploying is indescribable.  Most things in the Army involve an inordinate amount of waiting,... and all the experiences you look forward to tend to be anti-climatic.  After waiting for a week, we loaded the buses for the airport.  An MD-11 was waiting for us on the ramp at Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood.  Soldiers returning from their deployment were getting off the same MD-11 we were scheduled to take to Afghanistan.  After a couple briefings we were given about 5 minutes before we would board the plane.  Most people bolted for the door so they could step outside and call their loved ones and/or have that last cigarette before the long flight.  There’s a myriad of thoughts that goes through your head when you’re 5 minutes away from boarding a plane to take you to a far off place to intimately face your mortality on a daily basis.  I joined the Army after our country had already been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan for several years.  I didn’t think we would still be involved in the middle east after I finished flight school.  Four years later I’m on a plane headed for Afghanistan.  What impresses me the most are the other men and women who are making their third and fourth deployment.  I could see people trying to hold back tears as they said their goodbyes.  As we walked to the plane all I could think about was the stories I had read about soldiers in Vietnam that had to spend 20 plus days on a boat to get to Vietnam.  I tried to stay positive and be glad that we only had to spend about 20 hours on a plane.