Home

After a long but uneventful flight, I arrived back home to a hero's welcome last Thursday.  Not only was my family there (they were able to meet me at the gate as soon as I walked off the plane - special deal the airlines offer for just this sort of thing) but the officers from my parent command were waiting just outside the security boundary to welcome me home as well.  It was a wonderful arrival!

Yesterday was my first full day home and mostly I was struck by the dichotomy of feeling out of place "back in the world" and also feeling like I'd never left somehow.  It is hard to adequately explain but I hope you get the idea.  Being home isn't 100% normal just yet but having the long weekend to ease back into my routine should help that transition.  I have to say going out for pizza at our favorite local place for dinner last night was awesome!  I'd forgotten how much flavor food can really have - plus, I was able to have a beer with my pizza like usual - whoo hoo for the big small things!

I have one more wrap-up post in mind, but it is hard to imagine not having "Pearl in the Desert" as a routine forum anymore.  Thank you all for your support these last ten months.  I can tell you without a doubt, the support from folks here at home makes all the difference in the world to the men and women still in harm's way.  Even though I am back home safe and sound now, please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Cheers, Pearl

Last Day

It’s finally here – my last day in theater!  Yesterday I said goodbye to all of the folks who’ve been on this journey with me since my initial training in Norfolk back last July.  Right now they should be somewhere over Europe after a refueling stop in Germany.  Like I’ve said earlier, in some ways it sure would have been nice to be on that plane instead of writing this post here still in Kuwait, but last night as I was getting a sound night’s sleep while they were going through their last agonizingly slow Army processing, I imagine more than one would have changed places with me.  I suppose it’s a “grass is always greener…” thing.  Regardless, after dinner tonight I’ll be taken to the airport where I’ll fly like a normal person on a regular airline.  And through the magic of jet travel, I will be home by early afternoon tomorrow.

Part of the intentional down time built in to this out-processing is to let us transition from “adrenaline life” to “normal life.”  I think the Navy overestimated how much adrenaline we’ve been living on but the model they use is Vietnam where Soldiers were transitioning from the jungle to the dinner table in 48 hours.  When I think back to my grandfather (WW I) and uncle (WW 2), that sort of transition wasn’t necessary because they had at least a two-week ocean voyage just to get back to America.  Only because of jet travel do we intentionally have to build in a transition from a wartime environment to a peacetime environment.  Anyway, I found that interesting to think about this week.  It’s not like I had a whole lot else to do!

Anyway, today is my 281^st day in theater (my orders were for 280 – I get a bonus day – joy!) and thankfully my last.  I have a few more posts left in me to wrap things up but “Pearl in the Desert” is winding down.  I want to thank all of you who have read, supported, and prayed for me and all of us over here.  Every bit has been warmly felt and appreciated more than I can adequately express.  God bless you all and especially those still in harm’s way.

Cheers, Pearl

Almost Finished

Well, the journey is almost complete.  Yesterday I turned in all of my Army-issued equipment (a day we all called the "2nd best of our tour" since the Army holds people personally financially responsible for issued gear and we were all anxious to get receipts that we'd returned it all in good condition) and today we attended three hours of Return and Reunion briefings.  I suppose for someone who has never deployed these briefings were helpful, but for those of us who have been saying goodbyes and hellos for a career, the golden nuggets were few and far between.  However, the best part is, the transition program is now finished and all I have left to do is fly home (the 1st best day of my tour)!

Because of some quirk in making travel arrangements, three of us won't be leaving with the rest of our group in the wee hours of Wednesday morning on the military charter flight but instead will be flying home via commercial airliner Wednesday evening.  On the bad side, instead of arriving home late Wednesday night I won't arrive home until mid-day Thursday.  But on the very good side, I don't have to go through tedious hours of hurry-up-and-wait with the others beginning tomorrow at 2pm for a 1am flight!  When I learned I was flying commercial I was disappointed at first, but after hearing the charter schedule and procedures to get home, I think flying the "Friendly Skies" of United might be a more civilized mode of transportation - well, as civilized as a 7,700 mile flight can be!

Yesterday at lunch here at the new base we were startled to be eating off real plates with real metal forks and knives (instead of plastic which was all we had in Iraq) and most remarkably of all, glass glasses for our drinks!  I don't mean to say this was all fine china as it was still institutional stuff, but it was a somewhat jarring change from what we had all come to regard as "normal."  I guess it just goes to show how one's standards truly change when having a Coke in a standard cafeteria glass is a remarkable event.

The other changes that we noticed here were the number of people in civilian clothes.  Apparently here Sunday is a regular day off from work and when one is not working civilian clothes are authorized.  Also, the buildings are not all surrounded by protective concrete blast walls.  I don't know if recognition of these seemingly small differences were intentional parts of the transition program, but they really highlighted to me that I was finally out of a combat environment - that and not carrying a weapon everywhere I went!

Just three more days until I'm back home!  Yippee!

Cheers, Pearl

Kuwait

Somewhere over Iraq in a C-130 - heading south!

My journey home has begun – I bid a final farewell to Iraq yesterday and am now in Kuwait.  I will spend the next two days at the same base where I was stuck when I went home on leave before moving on for final out-processing.  Knowing I will be here as part of a plan is much less frustrating than when I was stuck here not knowing what was going on day-to-day like last December, but two days of just sitting around is still two days of just sitting around!  But, this time I’m in a VIP tent for O-5 and above (not sure why I didn’t get one last time) so I have a single bunk instead of a bunk bed and a wall locker to lock up my gear.  It is odd though how putting in some minor things makes it VIP.  I mean, after all, it is still a tent with seven other guys – it’s not a swank hotel or anything!  But after being over here in less than ideal conditions, any little improvement is very much appreciated.

Early Sunday morning we (those of us EWOs who are finally heading home) will move to a different base to actually begin the Warrior Transition Process.  Some of it is quite important, like turning in all of our Army equipment, some of it is mandatory, like the “don’t go home and beat your family” lectures we get at the end of every deployment, but it is all intentionally designed to take longer than necessary to give us time to “decompress” from our time in a combat zone.  I think their heart is in the right place but I imagine by the time I get on a plane to head home I will be more antsy than relaxed after all of the sitting around time.  I will say it is nice not having a schedule today and being able to just wear my PT shorts and t-shirt in the 105 degree heat rather than having to wear my normal uniform with sleeves rolled down!

One odd thing did happen this morning though.  As a few of us were standing in line to get some coffee at the little coffee shop on base, we heard an explosion.  It turned out to be some training for one of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal units nearby but still, we all looked at each other with a “I thought we were done with that” look.  Perhaps the extra time here to make the transition from thinking explosions and gunfire are “normal” might be alright after all!

Cheers, Pearl

Packing and Good Byes

I found out earlier today that I'm leaving sometime tomorrow.  I have to call at 10pm tonight to find out when my flight down to Kuwait will be.  The way it works is flight information for the entire day isn't out until 10pm the day prior so my flight could be first thing in the morning or late tomorrow night.  Why should even going back home be simple?

Anyway, the good news is I'm leaving Iraq for good.  I've spent the previous week packing boxes to ship home and I sent the last one off this morning - a large footlocker-sized box with a bunch of stuff I've accumulated over the last 10 months.  I live a pretty simple lifestyle and still I managed to mail a bunch of things home so I wouldn't have to haul it back as luggage.  But, I'm now down to a couple of bags of Army stuff to turn in and be finished with and just one seabag for my stuff plus my carry-on backpack and computer.  The room feels pretty spartan now and a little empty.

Which finally brings me to my point - I'm having a hard time getting 100% excited about leaving here.  Oh sure, I'm quite happy and thrilled to be heading back home to see my family again - absolutely!  But, the past couple of days have been hard leaving folks who will continue to fight this fight for another six months.  I've never left a deployment early before and when I say good-bye to the people I've become close friends with here, it will be the last time I see them, likely forever.  Unlike in the Navy where there is a possibility of being stationed together again or at least passing somewhere, the Soldiers of 2SCR are on a completely different path than I have.  So, it is with very mixed emotions that I anticipate my flight tomorrow and yet feel a pull to spend a little more time here in the company of heroes.

I know my feelings of heartache will pass - they did when I left home to come out here last July and will again.  And I will be left with fond memories of serving with great people in a terrible place.  But tonight, there's a little sadness mixed in my joy.

Cheers, Pearl