That’s what I am in right now, pure and simple. That’s the only way I can seem to explain the way I feel about going to Afghanistan. At a time when more than 50% of the guys in my battalion would gladly skip this deployment I am actually fighting to go. When asked why, I have been going with my generic fallback answer of money and college money but I don’t feel that those are the reasons anymore. I volunteered for this deployment 1 month after I got back from Iraq and the main reason being at that time was because I knew I would have to go whether I wanted to or not. Having been in the Army for some time I knew that it would behoove me to volunteer and go to a unit of my choice before I was voluntold and sent to a unit I would not like.
For my Iraq deployment money and college money were definitely a couple motivating factors but not so much this time around. I have been thinking a lot about this lately because so many of my friends both military and civilian think I am absolutely crazy for wanting to go. And I can see where they are coming from, I have no illusions about this deployment. It is going to suck and it is going to suck a lot. For one thing the weather over there is going to be extreme, extreme cold and extreme hot, two things I am not fond of. Also the living conditions are going to be way different than Iraq was. This time around there will be no climate controlled CHU with a defined living space and hard wired internet. Nope this time around it will be tents with wood floors.
So why am I so determined to go? Well it came to me while I was serving with my unit at Camp Grayling this last September. Plain and simple, because all my friends that I went to Iraq with are going. That right now is my driving force, my tunnel vision. It really hit home while I was working at the squad live fire range which every company from my battalion had to go through. All my friends that I made while serving in Iraq are sprinkled throughout the battalion in different companies. So as each company finished at the range I found myself having to say goodbye to my friends as they go onto more training in Mississippi before they leave for Afghanistan. And here I was stuck at home as they are leaving, it was not a good feeling. Saying goodbye to my friend Jim was the hardest of all, especially after he confided in me on how nervous he was about this deployment. It really hit me harder than I thought it would.
And last but not least it has always been my belief that if you are serving in the military, either active or reserves, you should be able to deploy. What is the point of being in the military if you are not able to go to war which is the main reason for having an Army in the first place. I see some soldiers here in the Michigan guard that have been in for 10 years or more yet they have never deployed and quite honestly it annoys the hell out of me. I dont ever want to be that guy.
So not to follow too many clichés. I want to go so that I can serve with my buddies to the left and right of me. Personally I do not hold much interest in the inner workings of Afghanistan, that’s not to mean that I do not care. But it is what it is, much like in Iraq, the future of Afghanistan is going to be made by the people of Afghanistan and not by whatever policy the United States may have in mind.
I do have to admit also that part of it is because the battalion medical officer made it pretty clear that he did not think I would be able to recover from my injury enough to be able to deploy. If there is one thing that motivates me to do something it is being told that I cant. For good or bad .
Bottom line, I want to go to Afghanistan because all my buddies are going and I do not want to sit at home while they are over there. That is why I am fighting to and determined to go.
