I’ve slacked off some in keeping the blog updated.  There’s only so much we can talk about from here and to be quite honest, every day is the same as yesterday at this point.  We have a countdown for us to go home but I’m trying to not pay attention to it yet.  To me it’s still a little early for that.  I have a few more missions to go on, I have tasks to complete, and I have a lot to keep me busy getting ready for our replacements.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel but I’m not keeping up with how many days are left until that light gets to me.

For those of you that keep up with my Facebook page, the poem I’m going to share in this blog might be familiar.  It’s called “More Than Our Life”.  I wrote it a couple of months ago after being inspired by real life events, some close to home.  But I didn’t tell the story of it on Facebook, just posted the poem.  As I tell this short story I will not be telling you anything that hasn’t already been release by the military or the Pentagon.

Sometimes events or people or combinations of multiple events and people inspire me to write.  Sometimes it comes out in the form of poetry.  This was one of those times with “More Than Our Life.”  On December 17, 2013, a helicopter went down in southern Afghanistan.  It was reported that all six Service Members died.  But it was reported in the media that a mechanical failure caused the crash and it was unknown if our enemy had any involvement with that or the deaths.  The report I saw later that evening on our secret email mentioned the enemy.  I won’t go into detail about those events, but the crew was killed by the enemy.  It was about three weeks after the crash that it was confirmed by the Pentagon that the crew was in fact killed by enemy fire.

That same day I was on a helicopter going from point A to point B.  But I made it safely to my destination.  I remember one time how one of our trips got delayed by a week.  During the time we would have been at that base, they lost six Service Members in three separate incidents.  One time we flew into a base just a few hours after a plane crashed short of the airfield, there were no survivors.  I remember sitting in bunker hearing the explosions getting closer with each boom (“Couldn’t help but wonder, was today the day?”).  But the rocket attacked stopped.  These might sound like near misses or close calls, but they are really bonding agents for those of us that work and travel together over here.  This is war, this stuff happens all the time.  And the poem that follows is my answer to people when they ask, “What’s it like to be there?”

More Than Our Life

David George

As the war goes on, we’re front and center

This Life and Death world, we chose to enter

Siblings of our Uncle, we call him Sam

Tho sometimes it feels he doesn’t give a damn.

We shared the same bunkers, Booms came down

Sirens blaring to us, all around

Showing no fear, but still afraid

Couldn’t help but wonder, was today the day?

The bonds we forge are not understood

By mortals back home, who only know Good.

For even if we die, we’ll still live on

In our fellow Soldier, we’ll carry on.

We trust each other with more than our life

With our thoughts, our secrets, and our strife

Forever we will be, for each other

Here in this life, and if there’s another.

And as the war draws down, we’ll try to go home

But never the same as when we started to roam

The memories of here, forever embedded

But for all the friendships, forever indebted.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Let us remember those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. Take care, God bless.

Dave