Some of you may recall that in January I posted most of a letter I received from a friend of mine serving in Afghanistan. At the time, I asked the community for their good wishes as he worked through the last months of his deployment — and most did (though not all, as one must expect in this wild and wonderful world we call the intertubes) for which his and my thanks.
Now I’m very happy to report that he has rotated out of the field and is in the midst of the process of heading home.
I’m even more pleased — or I should say he is — that he didn’t lose a man under his care. And I have to applaud his timing. He’s not a man given to exuberance of expression…
…so you should understand that when he says this:
“It is getting crazy over here.”
It means that America’s turn in the graveyard of empire is not going well at all.
But leaving that larger issue aside for just one brief moment, I thought you all (or most) would like to know how this page of my friend’s story turned.
Image: Rembrandt van Rijn, An Old Soldier, (a different version of this subject than the previous one in this sequence, BTW), 1630-31.
burnspbesq
Excellent news. Good to hear.
Maude
So glad he is coming back.
Obama had to call Karzai because Karzai is yelling about the US and it endangers our men and women in uniform.
I am hoping the troop withdrawal for NATO speeds up.
stinger
Very, very glad to hear it. Thanks for the update.
Betty Cracker
Glad your friend is coming home safely! I hope everyone else there has the same luck.
japa21
Great news. And I can understand the part of not losing any of the men under his care. When my son was in charge of a company in Iraq for a year, his number one priority (his, not necessarily the government’s) was to make sure everybody came home safe. They did.
scav
Yes, glad to hear that and also very selfishly glad to hear anything good.
Kristine
I’m really glad to hear this.
Ash Can
That’s great news. Thanks for keeping us posted.
jo6pac
Good news indeed now if we could get 0 to bring everyone else home vendors included it’s F*&^%*# over.
SiubhanDuinne
Such good news, Tom. I’m happy for your friend, the men under his command, and everyone who loves any of those service members. Please pass along the Juicetariat’s good wishes when you next talk to him.
EriktheRed
Just outta curiosity, what’s his rank?
kdaug
Thank him for his service for me.
And let him know gears are turning over here.
SOFA says end of 2114. I’d bet it’s sooner.
Amir Khalid
@kdaug:
I’d bet that too. I think the Status of Forces Agreement says US combat troops are to pull out by the end of 2014.
PurpleGirl
Thanks good news. I hope he (and his family and friends) has a easy times getting back to regular life.
reflectionephemeral
What great news! Thanks for the update.
And as others have mentioned, further updates, in compliance with his wishes, would be welcome too.
kdaug
@Amir Khalid:
All right. Never claimed to have the best typing skills.
But we’ll sure as shit be out by 2214.
asiangrrlMN
I’m glad he’s heading home. I hope he has a relatively-easy transition back to civilian life. Further updates (at his discretion, of course) would be appreciated.
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
We lasted 10 years in that graveyard, now it’s time to leave before
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
the time is near
satby
This is great news, thanks for sharing. I hope the same is true for my foster son’s Marine unit soon.
muddy
I was in Afghanistan in April of 1973, just before the Soviet puppet king was installed later that summer. Then I took a bus through the Khyber Pass to Peshawar, Pakistan and then back to Kabul. What strikes me now when I look at the old photos is how happy everyone looked, everyone was smiling. Also the Bamiyan Buddhas still intact, me tiny in the foreground.
It was no problem being uncovered in the bazaars. Some pics have me in a tribal tunic, worn as a dress about mid-thigh. Got some looks, but not angry ones. We were warned not to take pictures of womenfolk unless the men agreed first, but that was all.
In the Khyber Pass the new road criss-crossed the old one. At every intersection they had a sign with a truck pointing one way and a camel pointing the other. I wonder if they still have that.
I hope your friend has pics of Afghanis smiling too.
DFH no.6
The son of one of my project managers is just about to deploy to Afghanistan (Marines).
It’s what the kid’s wanted to do for a couple years now (he only graduated from HS last May). Pretty gung ho and all that – he was initially all excited about possibly going to Iraq, and was actually bummed when Obama shut that all down as planned.
Dad and (especially) mom aren’t real thrilled with this, but the kid (he’s 18) can’t wait to go off to war. As a Marine in Afghanistan he’s likely to get his wish.
He doesn’t yet know that Wilfred Owen was right – dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is an old lie.
Who knows, maybe he’ll never believe that – a couple of the rightwing Viet Nam vets I work with still talk about what a blast they had over there back in the 60s. No doubt more than a few Iraq and Afghanistan vets feel the same.
JoyfulA
Welcome home, friend!
WereBear
So glad to hear!
CT Voter
Thanks for the update. Best wishes to your friend, and, thanks to your friend for the illuminating comments.
We need to be out of there.
ruemara
Welcome back friend o’ Tom! Welcome back and may we never forget to vote wisely because our military men and women are at stake.
rikyrah
glad he’s coming home.
Afghanistan is NOT a country.
it’s a land mass with tribes on it
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Thank you for the update, and please give your friend my thanks and good wishes.
Uncle Cosmo
@rikyrah: The Af was a “failed state” long before either Somalia or the term itself existed. If nations were planets, Af would be the asteroid belt–big jumble of territory that never quite coalesced.
Mutt
Yes, indeed, I’m glad him and those under his command are back in the States. I hope your friend, after thinking what just happened to him over, decides to tell people >exactly< what he saw and was part of. He'll find ready allies among us old Viet vets, who have BT,DT, and been pissed off ever since about it.
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