I misspoke this. (I'm tired - I haven't had a day off since the two days I spent in the hospital when I was stricken with typhoid this past July...)
I love to catch up with everyone back home, hear what's been going on in their lives, see everyone again and just feel the "normal." At gatherings, I sometimes just sit and watch, enjoying how everyone seems so carefree and grounded.
It's the part where I can't really contribute anything relative to it and nobody wants to hear whatever I would contribute that makes me feel somewhat stifled.
Just wanted to get that clear lest there be any misperceptions. ;-)
I can’t imagine that, but then again, I know a lot more about the military, and about what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, than the average citizen. I would love to know/understand it better. I guess I just haven’t been in situations where I see average citizens interacting with folks like you and the military folks on this thread.
This is a really troubling thing, but I’m not sure what the answer is. In trying to understand it, I’m thinking that all the “Iraq war bad! Bush evil!” political propaganda we all heard for almost 7 years had to be part of the root of the problem.