Good bye 2013 - Hello 2014

Well it is the end of another year.  And I am continuing the tradition of posting on here the last day of the year.  This has been quite an interesting year.  I am still serving in the National Guard, have a new Significant Other, two cats (Taboo and Lyric), a new puppy (London) and good old Willow.  (they are all adorable!)  This year I actually owned a beautiful horse for a short time, but sadly he passed away the day after Thanksgiving.  Alex was his name.  I miss him very much and am grateful for the time we did have together.  Things have gone well at work...several raises and a bonus.  Still working helping vets and I love it.  I am a year older and quite a bit heavier.  I gained a lot of weight this year but of course I plan losing it in the New Year.  Overall, I feel pretty good about the year and look forward to the next.  God willing, I will be back next year with even better news.  Happy New Years kids.  Oh and my News Years resolutions?

1. World Peace
2. Lose weight!!

Happy New Years!!

Worse than Combat

I was in Iraq at a time when there were on average 3 to 4 combat deaths each day.  One day in particular there was over 20 KIAs.  January 20, 2007 is one of my darkest memories from Iraq.  On that day one of the Black Hawks from my unit was shot done and 18 were killed.  And this was, without a doubt one of the saddest and most distressing moments of my time in the Army.  But my fellow soldiers and I came to expect that death in this way was somehow, if not acceptable, at least  not unexpected.  This was war and war was serious business.  Bad things happen in war.  As the war in Iraq has ended and the war in Afghanistan winding down, there are days that go by when there are no deaths in combat.  In 2012 we lost 313 servicemembers during Operation Enduring Freedom.  But during that same time we lost 325 soldiers to their own hand.  Suicide rates have been going up in the military in recent years and the number of military suicides have approached or exceeded the numbers of those killed in combat.  In the veteran community, those number are even more staggering.  The VA estimates that 22 veterans kill themselves each day.  That is nearly one an hour.  Over 8000 per year! This is unbelievable to me.  And unacceptable.  Just this month, I have attended two funerals of soldiers and former soldiers who have taken their lives.  One was a fellow soldier from the NY Army National Guard and another was a former member of the Guard who I tried to help a couple of years ago.  At least two other members of the Guard took their lives in the last six weeks.  I expect death at an early age in the Army --- due to combat --- but I would never think that the day would come that we would have more deaths to suicide then at the hands of the enemy.  It's inconceivable.  In fact, why would the enemy even try to kill us when we are doing a better job doing it ourselves.  We need to figure out whats going on here.  I don't have the answer right now, but I do want to do something about it.  We can't count on the VA to do this alone.  Suicide hotlines won't solve the problem.  Veterans need to get more involved.  I believe we can change this story.  I am committed to doing just that. 

February 2013

The month of February has gone by quickly.  It seems like the time since I returned from Kuwait has really flown.  Today is the last day of February on what would have been my mother's 81st birthday.  Happy birthday mom!  Hope you are enjoying it with aunt Joan and dad and grandma.   Maybe playing cards or something.   I miss everyone.  But anyway, I have been quite busy with work.  Lots of vets needing my help.  I am also in a play that will go up next month.  I have had a small problem with a burst pipe which caused about 30000 dollars in damage in my first floor apartment.  But that is being fixed thanks to good insurance.  I have inherited two cats...which have stirred things up a lot around the house.  It's seems they are proving to be great hunters.  My mouse problem is being handled...though it hasn't been pleasant picking up the remains that have been left for me.  Overall, February has been pretty good.  I am looking forward to a warm spring.  Last February and March I was at Camp Shelby preparing for the deployment.  God how the time flies.  I am glad I'm in Albany this year though.  This year I am preparing for a much cooler spring and summer than last year.  Well, goodbye February...hello March!

Back to Normal

It sure has been a busy first month of 2013.  One year ago today, I had just arrived at Camp Shelby Mississippi to begin what would become quite an odyssey.  I remember trying to find a bottom bunk in barracks crammed with 30 or 40 other soldiers who I had just met and who knew as little as I did about what the coming year would hold.  Weeks of training and then the deployment and then finally the end in December.  Quite a lot happened in the last year.  I never dreamed it would end the way it did.  But now I am back working with veterans.  And in a day or so I'll be just a part time soldier again.  Kuwait seems like a dream to me.  A long strange dream.  It just didn't feel real.  But my work for veterans...that seems real.  I am back fully now and so happy to be doing what I am doing.  The other day I was able to help get two young veterans off of the street.  Sad really, but it did make me feel like I was doing something more important then I ever did in Kuwait.  Afghanistan did not happen for me.  I had hoped to fight in a second war.  It was not to be.  Destiny sent me to Kuwait instead.  But the war at home....this war against homelessness and despair and depression and addiction....that is my war now.  This is a war that is worth fighting.  This is a war we can win.  And I know I can do my part to win it.  This time next year I hope I can look back with the realization that I've done the best I can in this effort.  Goodbye January hello February.