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I'm Taking The Long Way Home
By Nancy Osborne
Marine Corps Major Terry Slatic is back home in California after a tour in Southwest Afghanistan. He, his wife and four children shared the experience of being separated in several stories on ABC30 Action News and Mj. Slatic detailed his deployment here on the Red White and True blog. This time he's brought us the circuitous route taken getting back to the United States.
How do they get back here from over there? They fly of course, but traveling 12thousand miles armed and hauling everything they own or were issued by the Marine Corps is one cumbersome ride. Especially when it seems as if you are really 'taking the long way home. of it really matters but it's sure a glimpse into patience, humor and finally great joy.
"After seven and a half months in Helmand Province, after a combat outpost (COP) to a forward operating base (FOB) by expanding the perimeter and facilities by over 500%, after holding memorials for all of our fallen brothers who came to Afghanistan with us and traveled home in flag draped caskets, after helping improve the security of the Helmand River Valley for the residents of the area known as the "fish hook", we began our 12,000 mile journey home. They were now legally empowered to make the decisions that are, truly, life and death. They had been given the benefit of our experience to help them up the learning curve. I just hope that the Marines that I trained to replace me had learned everything that I tried to teach. And I prayed that they would continue to learn new things faster than the guys who would be trying to kill them would learn new things.
"The trip began on a big helicopter. They land but never shut down the rotors. My group of 15 Marines and I run out and begin loading the 2 sea bags and pack out of which each man had been living during our tour. We have a 30 minute flight to Camp Leatherneck.
"After unloading, we wait in a stifling hot tent for 4 days. 110 degrees during the day inside the tent. You end up sitting in the dining tent and reading all day. At least its air conditioned.
"Then the big day. Long awaited and not just during our time in what had begun to be called the "Circus Tent". The name seemed to fit not just because of how the tent looked but also the smell which was the result of us living in the heat with all of our filthy gear. We headed toward the flight line and boarded the C17 aircraft to Manas, Kyrgyzstan. 4 hour flight. When we left the ground in Afghanistan, the cheer that erupted from every Marine and Sailor was deafening. Now, now we were REALLY headed home.
"At Manas, the wait was blessedly shorter. A day, a night, and a day. But this time, air conditioned tents. Not that it was actually that big a deal because it's 25 degrees cooler in Kyrgyzstan at the western end of the Himalayas. We did have to dump every item out of our tightly packed bags for the customs inspection performed by our Army brothers.
"Then a 4 hour flight to Romania. Stop for fuel. Get off the plane. Get to drink beer in a bar that had been opened for us. I wish the gift shop had been open. Through the window they had a fantastic selection of vampire themed items including coffee mugs and beer tankards.
"Then a 4 hour flight to Shannon, Ireland. Stop for fuel. Get off the plane for more beer. Pretty good for a couple of reasons. We hadn't had any alcohol while in Afghanistan. And we were about to have a very long flight, nonstop, to March Air Force Base in California. The beers would be of benefit as a sleep aid.
"Arrive at March AFB. Big cheers. Giant Cheers. Back in the land of whatever you want, whenever you want it. Arby's or In 'N Out Burger? How about both? As I've previously discussed, "Simple but not Easy" had just become "Easy but not Simple". Unload the gear. Pack the trucks and busses for the hour long trip to Camp Pendleton where our families had been made to wait. They were not allowed on March AFB.
"Our trip to Camp Pendleton went fast. Partly because we were so close to home after having been so far away for so long. But partly because of the amazing police motorcycle escort that ensured that we made it as rapidly as possible.
"As we pulled into our part of the base,[url=http://www.sport.fr/economie/airmax.html]air max pas cher[/url], I called Kim with my cell phone and told her that I was in the front left seat, right behind the driver, of the 3rd bus. She told me where she and the kids were standing in the crowd. Cheering and shouting and clapping by those on the ground and by those on the busses.
"The busses went through a gate and parked, away from the families, behind a chain link fence. All of our weapons had to be turned in and accounted for before any family contact was allowed. Every last weapon. From hundreds of Marines and sailors. Watching your family from 30 yards away. Behind a fence with barbed wire on top. No more than an hour but seemed much longer. Can't remember ever having been so close to something that I had wanted for so long and was forbidden to have.
"Then, all of a sudden, the go ahead is given. The gate is opened and we are back with our loved ones."The greatest groups hug in the history of group hugs. Me and Kim and 4 kids. We've all grown tougher since I returned from my previous Iraq. We all had to. Survival mechanism. This means that the tears that we had at this group hug were a bit less. And the joy that we all felt and the strength of that hug will never be forgotten by any of us."
I can stop crying from this last and heart warming blog. My oldest son is a Marine over at camp Dwyer in the Helmand Provance Afghanistan. he is due to come home from a year long deployment in the begining of October. I could feel the antipation in every word.