Absolutely and relieved that he's home. You described him as an honorable man. I appreciate that. I never thought of him as a man, he's just my boy and it's a 'dad' thing to look at him that way. He turned 20 in Mosul, but other than adding another year, he's added some experiences alot of us will never have. He tells me some of them when he feels like it. I just listen an marvel at the fact he went through that stuff. We saw alot of 'boys' his age at Ft Campbell last week when we went to pick him up. All of them glad to be back and excited about going on leave. There was still some child like glee in their banterning each other, but there was an unmistakeable air of character also. I'm very proude of the honorable man my son has become and judging by the others of his generation I saw in uniform, our country is in good hands.
I know what you mean. I have three sons of my own, 18, 21, and 23. In many ways they are still boys, yet they are (supposedly) grown men. The oldest is still not settled and has an average of 3 different jobs per year.