Army Sailor -- War in the Sandbox...
The Adventures of a Sailor in Afghanistan...

Near the end of December, I made the discover that the whackos over at "God Hates Fags" were planning to hold a protest at the funeral of one of the soldiers my unit lost while in Afghanistan. Needless to say I got pretty upset pretty quickly. When I showed my Master Sergeant the flier for the protest I had found, he snapped into action.

SFC Meredith Howard was a close, personal friend of my resourceful Master Sergeant and he got the word out to his family. His sister posted this (CLICK HERE) on YouTube, and it got quite a bit of attention. As it turned out the bigots from the Westboro Baptist Church (the folks responsible for "God Hates Fags") never showed up at SFC Howard's memorial service... But the Patriot Guard did. They were there, ready and waiting.

I always like it when a story can have a positive outcome. This struck me a a particularly noteworthy instance because YouTube was successfully used to rally folks. Good to know people care.

I was not able to watch the video while in Afghanistan, we didn't have enough bandwidth for stuff like YouTube, but it still moved me when I watched it this morning, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

A member of the Patriot Guard posted this very touching Tribute to SFC Howard...

I am not going to tell you that I am not happy to be home, because I am ecstatic to be here, but I can tell you that I think perhaps there was not enough of a transition period. Nothing seems real, and I feel like I am a visitor. I am very uncomfortable. It's an odd feeling. Don't get me wrong, I am happy, but I feel very out of place.

I came home and got barraged with all kinds of messages and emotions. My mother cried, of course. And then she told me that she's developed diabetes while I was away. Apparently she discovered that she has Type 2 diabetes in December. The way she put it, on December 22nd (my dead father's birthday), he tried calling her away. She responded with "leave me alone you bastard, I am not ready to join you yet, I am staying here until I am a hundred to torture my kids". It's exactly the response I'd have expected. But it turns out that she was pretty close to having slipped into a coma. I knew something was up when I asked about her health around Christmas time and no one would tell me anything. She's ok, and that is all that matters to me.

I intend to report back to the NAVICP on Monday. I need to take a few days to settle in and do my best to try to feel normal. I wasn't expecting my return to feel this way. I am sure that in time, it will pass.

I wanted to take this chance to thank everyone who has supported me over the last year. I could not have made it with out your help! Boatsie of "Boatsie's Boxes", Janet, the Abiuso family, all the folks from "Soldiers Angels", Peter Catapano of the New York Times, Gary Treudeau (author and creator of Doonesbury), and everyone who reads and comments on my Blog. You've all been a huge benefit to me. Especially my readers who leave comments. There were so many times this past year that I just wanted to give up, but your support helped keep me going. Using this blog as an outlet has been a huge help to me also. Just knowing that others do care. I can never thank any of you enough. This list is in no way all inclusive, but it is a good start. I have a lot of thank you letters to write.

Well, it's official. I am back in the United States and it is great to be here. It still seems surreal, I keep expecting to wake back up in Afghanistan and find out that this is all a dream. I am enjoying being home but I keep expecting to wake up and sob myself back to sleep hoping to be able to continue the dream. I am not sure how long it will take for reality to set in, but one thing is certain, Afghanistan will really put the zap on your head.

In the mean time, I have been finding a great deal of pleasure in simply being home. It's fantastic. We landed Sunday afternoon. We were greeted by various Special Forces Colonels and Generals, and the head of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs / Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC). They had a silly little ceremony, which was much more for them than it was for us, and then they released us for the day. We went to our barracks, dropped our bags and then made our way for the exchange to buy some civilian clothes. (WRITERS NOTE: We all called our families and loved ones first.) Once we had civilian clothes me and my crew headed off to get some food and drinks. My first meal in the U.S. was a delicious Bacon-Cheeseburger called "the Queens" from a restaurant in Fayetteville called "The Big Apple". My first drink was a rum and coke, which is predictable for anyone who knows me. After that we went to a strip club called 'Secrets', and we enjoyed some good American entertainment, while look at some lovely young women who have never had to wear burkas. God bless America!

The next morning we returned all of our gear that we were not allowed to keep. Some of the stuff we had to return was expected (like our body-armor), but some of the stuff they took back from us was really annoying. They took our winter coats back from us! It's 40 Degrees here in North Carolina and I now have no coat because the Army took it... That strikes me as being particularly lame since the coats we had are the old-style black fleece jackets which they are not issuing anymore, they are issuing green ones now. So why did they take ours away? I really don't understand.

While we were returning our gear to the Central Issuing Facility (CIF), I realized that I had misplaced my Armor Plates. This caused an immediate panic attack. The plates cost $1000, and if I couldn't find them I would have to pay for them! I really can not afford $1000 to just give to the Army for the privilege of having served in Afghanistan. I went back to the barracks and found my plates and everything is fine now, I managed to clear CIF, and I did not have to pay anything. But the experience made me realize something, and this is a point I intend to write to my congressman about... Some of the guys I served with had to pay for some stuff they were missing, mostly silly stuff like laundry bags or duffel bags. And although the individual items were cheap ($5-$25), the total charge grew pretty quickly. Much of this equipment can not be re-issued because it was damaged or just because it was used (like our laundry bags), so why should we have to pay for them? It just does not seem right to me to come home from war, and be greeted with a bill. I think that we should be given some amount of protection from loss. Now I understand that there are certain things like Armor and Weapons which are accountable items, and will likely be re-issued, but the rest of it should be written off as acceptable combat losses. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars building schools and clinics in Afghanistan every month, I think we can afford to let our soldiers and sailors get away with keeping their laundry bags and duffel bags... No one should have to pay to go to war.

After clearing CIF, we were officially released from the U.S. Army, and returned to the U.S. Navy, which itself is a great feeling. We were released to the local Navy command, which is a part of JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command). They had some paperwork and briefs for us, and they began arranging travel for those who needed it. I told the commander that my niece was coming to pick me up, and the commander happily let me sign out and released me from their control. So I now officially belong to NAVICP Philadelphia again. I am on my way back to the Admiral's Staff there. I have 30 days to get back, but it won't take me that long. When I do get back I am taking quite a bit of leave and settling back down into normal life. I look forward to it.

In the mean time you can look forward to lots more posts from me. I intend to fill in some gaps from my time in Afghanistan, and post a lot more pictures. It's easier to post pictures with high-speed internet connectivity than it was from a war-zone. Some of the stories I intend to post really work better with their associated photos, like the time my Master Sergeant and I went to explore some Soviet Ammo bunkers, good photos. I also intend to write more about some of my experiences, and how I feel about how we are doing certain things over there. Things I did not always feel comfortable writing about while I was there.

Needless to say, I will be writing a lot more posts, so please, keep reading.

This post will be short, but it is a post I am very happy to make, because I am posting from Germany! We are on our way home, and I can not wait to get there. Now all I have to do is get back to the states, out process from the Army and get the hell back home. I can't wait to get back to the Navy and regular life. Please check back later for updates. Also, please don't think that the end of my deployment marks the end of this blog, I have plenty more to write about, including my readjustment to regular life. I hope you will all keep reading.