Our colleague Eddie had been on R&R for a few weeks.
Since he normally works in Sharana, though, his absence wasn’t obvious at all times and the weeks slipped by fairly quickly – for us, at least, and probably even more quickly for him. (It’s one of my fears that my own R&R in June will pass too quickly.)
He returned today, coming through Bagram because it’s a major port of entry/exit. He’ll catch a flight down to Sharana in the next few days.
I first see him when he visits Izzy next door, and I welcome him back.
Eddie is on a 3 to 5 year plan, with financial goals he wants to meet in that time, and I believe he intends to retire when he goes home for good – or at least have the freedom to work as and where he likes. This trip home was one of many short little jaunts he’ll make Stateside in the next few years.
I ask him if he had any particularly good meals when he was home. Food is a fairly consistent topic of conversation out here, and Izzy and I (as Alex and I before) talk about favorite meals, restaurants, and food we miss.
Eddie completely lets me down by not being forthcoming about any great grub he experienced back home.
He does relate the story of seeing his son (aged 11, I think) again. Eddie didn’t tell him he was coming, and his family was at church when he drove into town, so Eddie went straight there, sneaking in the back. Their pastor was walking along the aisle while giving his sermon and when he saw Eddie he continued on to the back and they greeted each other warmly.
Eddie said “Good to see you, pastor” which was picked up by the microphone, and when Eddie’s son heard his father’s voice he bolted out of his seat and ran to hug him.
It cannot be easy to be that age and have your father be away for as long as Eddie is planning on being away. Eddie says they spoke at length about it before he decided to come over here, and says that his son understands enough about finances to know how and why they made this decision – and what they gain by being over here.
With the economy the way it is, deployments to the Middle East are still a great way to make a lot of money. There are sacrifices to be made in doing so, of course, the separation from family being primary among them.
Eddie seems to know what he’s doing, though, and like so many others he’s here to do a job as a means to an end. It’s just a really long means is all.
R&R = Rest & Relaxation
