Sunday, September 2, 2012

Bag(ram) in the Saddle Again

In early 2009 when I was contemplating rejoining the Army after 19-odd years of the civilian world, my family, friends and professional colleagues uniformly expressed various degrees of disbelief and dismay - the latter mostly by my Mom and only increased by the fact one of my main reasons of enlisting was specifically to serve in Afghanistan.

After deploying to Tarin Kowt, AFG for a year and safely returning, it seemed the expectations of my family (eg Mom), and the corporate headhunters who continue(d) to inundate me with emails with job offers, were that I would complete my four-year enlistment/mid-life crisis and return to my old life and the "real" world.

But while the Army has drastically changed since I left Active Duty in 1991 and at times it has been personally Very challenging for me to live an Army life, the basic reasons I rejoined the Army remain unchanged and, if anything, have become more focused: I want to serve my Country; I believe in the
Army Values as well as the Creed of the Non-Commissioned Officer and; I believe I CAN make a difference.

So, in order to deploy for nine months, once again with the very finest
101st Combat Aviation Brigade, I re-enlisted for two more years of Active Duty service.

This time around I will have a different job, different responsibilities and will be in a different location -
Bagram but look for the same result: successfully completing the mission and safely returning home to a celebratory sushi and champagne feast.

When time and internet connectivity permits, I will post my thoughts and observations, with photos when possible, which I hope you enjoy reading and seeing. Please let me know if there is anything you are particularly interested in and, pending
OPSEC considerations, I
will do my best to respond.

And, just in case you are just itching to send a
Care Package...

Meanwhile, I'm Bag(ram) in the saddle again.

6 comments:

  1. Great reasons for serving your country. Wishing you another safe journey.

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  2. Love the name of your blog! Would it be possible that you are indeed from Corbin, KY? I was raised over in Somerset and other Lake Cumberland areas.

    Here's hoping that your mission goes well for this tour.

    Take care. I'll be checking in on you soon. :)

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  3. @K-Dubyah: No, I am not from Corbin but I did attend the '09 Nibroc Fest missed '10 and '11 from being deployed and missed this year's due to preparation for deployment; hopefully will make '13. Pretty sure I must have some kind of kin in Corbin, though.

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  4. Looking forward to hearing more of your mission and other activities as the deployment creeps ahead.

    H/T K-Dubyah for directions to your blog.

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  5. @Hutto; Running Man is my latest entry regarding my creeping down the wrong road.

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