Deployment Stories

Apparently everyone going through a deployment has their own version of a deployment story. Some like to write them down either on paper or in a blog and some just like to talk about them with others. I haven't really given this topic a lot of thought. I guess you all have read my deployment story as it has happened. It's pretty well been here in this blog. There are, i admit, some things i haven't put here, they are in my personal handwritten journal. Some thoughts and emotions are just too personal. Which i find surprising considering some of the things i have put in here! Anyway.....i was reading some other military wives thoughts on deployment and things that concern them this morning. They were talking about things that i never really gave much thought to, things that seemed second nature to me. These are women who are in the beginning stages of deployment. Some are talking about seeing their husbands for the first time with his weapon, how that isn't the man they married. That it made the "soldier thing" more real for them. They were more taken aback by it and affected by it than they had expected to be. Personally, i know he carries a weapon. Although my husband is not infantry and these women are married to infantrymen. I still know my husband carries a weapon. They certainly should have known! Another thing they were talking about is how he seems to "put his game face on" at the end of a phone call and they can tell before he says goodbye. They can feel the shift in conversation. He'll be talking and laughing then suddenly he is stiff and deep voiced and rushed to go. Again i gotta say i've really not experienced this that i recall. My hubby is mine when he's with me. On the phone or internet or whatever, he's mine until he says Talk to you soon and hangs up. Then he's a soldier again. But in many ways i am blessed with my husband. We are among the few apparently who go through deployment and come out stronger. I know he loves me. I love him. He's the greatest part of my life. Unlike so many i have heard about or know personally, we didn't fight during deployment. We didn't have trust issues or other problems. And now we are at the end of deployment. Just days away from seeing one another again. I am so anxious and so excited! We have been through this roller coaster of deployment now and this is the good part! Come on lets get on with it! I'm tired of waiting! A year ago i remember writing that I wish it was a year from now. Well here we are and it's like time is standing still! I'm so anxious to touch his face. To see his smile. To gaze into his eyes. To hug him. To sit on the couch and just know he is there. To cook dinner knowing he will eat it. To sleep knowing he is sleeping in the same bed. I just think it is funny to think about the stages of deployment and how we all adjust. We go from craving a phone call, an email, a letter, any communication at all, enveloped in the fear of the unknown to coping, slowly learning and taking it all in, finding our way in the months that drag on before us to acceptance of it all, doing good, everything is on the right path and we are gonna make it to yay he is on his way home, get off the phone and get on the plane, i understand if you are busy and can't call right now, just come home! I have found it funny how the attitude shifts as it goes along. People told me in the beginning that it would and that all this time would go by pretty fast and to just stay busy and find something to do and all these other cliche things. But in all actuallity, they are right. Getting involved in life, staying busy is the key, the time does go by pretty quickly. The days turn to weeks to months to seasons before you know it. I can't believe how fast it seems to have gone. Looking back it's been a long year but at the same time not so long. We have all changed but still not so much. We are more independent but still need each other so much more. We are stronger but still he is my greatest weakness. It really is amazing what deployment will do FOR you when you allow it to.....this is not something the military is doing TO you. Find the positive in your next one and build on it. You never know what you will learn about yourself and your spouse and your marriage!