Survival Mechanism
To survive a deployment, as someone left at home, you have to downplay everything. Otherwise you would be freaking out all the time.
My boyfriend also downplays everything for me. If you listened to him, you would think that his unit of Ch-47s are just heavy-lifters, and basically are like flying trucks. *Yawn*boring. Nothing dangerous...except for when they crash...or get shot at...or are actively involved in troop insertion.
“This mission is a ongoing effort to take away enemy sanctuaries,” Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara, Combined Joint Task Force-76 spokesperson, said in an e-mail from Afghanistan. “We are not letting up on the enemy and will continue to pursue them until the fighting stops.”[...]
Two CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters were damaged during the fight, O’Hara said. One was able to fly back to base; the other was forced into an emergency landing. Crewmen repaired it on the ground before it, too, was able to fly back to base.
Of course, my boyfriend made no mention of this, because for him, it obviously belongs to everyday events. Plus, since the guys made it back safe and sound, there was no real story to tell. Perhaps it wasn't even his unit. However, the fact remains...CH-47s may be heavy-lifters, but they also are occasionally in the thick of it all.
Nevertheless, I will go back into my naive little cocoon, and continue to believe, that he is on an Afghan holiday...it's my emotional survival mechanism.
My boyfriend also downplays everything for me. If you listened to him, you would think that his unit of Ch-47s are just heavy-lifters, and basically are like flying trucks. *Yawn*boring. Nothing dangerous...except for when they crash...or get shot at...or are actively involved in troop insertion.
“This mission is a ongoing effort to take away enemy sanctuaries,” Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara, Combined Joint Task Force-76 spokesperson, said in an e-mail from Afghanistan. “We are not letting up on the enemy and will continue to pursue them until the fighting stops.”[...]
Two CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters were damaged during the fight, O’Hara said. One was able to fly back to base; the other was forced into an emergency landing. Crewmen repaired it on the ground before it, too, was able to fly back to base.
Of course, my boyfriend made no mention of this, because for him, it obviously belongs to everyday events. Plus, since the guys made it back safe and sound, there was no real story to tell. Perhaps it wasn't even his unit. However, the fact remains...CH-47s may be heavy-lifters, but they also are occasionally in the thick of it all.
Nevertheless, I will go back into my naive little cocoon, and continue to believe, that he is on an Afghan holiday...it's my emotional survival mechanism.
posted by CaliValleyGirl at 12:18 PM
4 Comments:
I went through stages when hubby was gone - having no clue about what was on the news to watching it endlessly and then sitting by the emailwaiting and trying to figure out if the people I saw in the thick of it were he and his guys.
Oh that's hysterical... I just emailed my son about that article - Sieg had it up on his blog... I'm wondering if I'll get a reply or not.
I was also asking him if he met Austin Bay (the writer, reporter, blogger) who is just finishing up a tour of the war zones. He posted on his blog that he had been on a Chinook out of Bagram... I had to ask you know I did. LOL.
This happens a lot now that the deployment is over. The guys will say stuff like "remember when so-and-so ran over that IED?"...normal stuff to them since no one got hurt, but stuff that we never heard during the deployment.
Some of the stories I'd hear would be his friends telling me about them like two years later while they are cracking jokes about this or that....I just try to pretend that I knew all about it and keep going.
HH6
AKA Miss Stella
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