Well, here I am...Another assignment, this time in Europe. Yeah it's no Iraq...
Actually, and I know this sounds crazy, I do miss my pals and the certainty of some things. For instance, the bureaucracy here is crazy. I was thinking last week during in-processing, "what a pain, wish I was in Iraq." Then I caught myself saying that.
I heard a headline this week about the increased number of suicides in the Army. It has probably been an issue for soldiers for years, not just in this country, but everywhere. I was watching the movie "Ryan's Daughter" last week. It has the hauntingly beautiful Sarah Miles in it. Anyway, she falls in love with a mentally damaged British soldier. He ends up taking his life.
I think that there are so many issues one faces upon returning. Also, each person's experience is so unique. Their reaction to returning may depend upon where in the cycle of their own life they are... Perhaps it is the fact that one sees life continuing, and one is expected to fit in? I don't know, but it is not just a sadness...it is like an emptiness, a palpable nothing that engulfs a person. Perhaps it is a sort of loneliness that one experiences upon returning. I guess "aloneness" is a better word.
Even with crowds around, one walks through the days alone.
If I can motivate anyone to do anything, please watch the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives". It is from 1946. Powerful. Some scenes always move me to tears.
Anyway, I will continue to put up stuff from Iraq, as well as my impressions of this tour in Europe.
Dream in peace.
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