Ready to Go Home

It has been a rough couple of weeks. I injured my knee on the 6th of August and have been hobbling around since then. After two weeks of hobbling around in the unnamed place that I was located, they sent me to Kandahar Afghanistan to see a Doctor. There they examined my knee, x-rayed it and determined that there was fluid in the knee and that I needed to see an Orthopedic Surgeon. They then sent me to Aludeid A.B. in Qatar where I started out the deployment at in April. They got me in to see the orthopedic surgeon relatively quick, the day after I arrived in Aludeid. The orthopedic took more x-rays and examined quite thoroughly. He determined that I have torn my MCL and probably my meniscus. They do not have a MRI machine here on base so they are scheduling me a MRI downtown with a civilian doctor. They said that usually takes a week or two to accomplish. So I have a formation every morning with all the other wounded soldiers that have been sent here to the In Theater Care Program. In the formation they let everyone know any pertinent information like doctor appointments, physical therapy and so on. This usually last about twenty minutes and then we are released for the day. I have been here in Aludeid for four days now and I am going CRAZY! I am bored out of my mind. If I have to have surgery they are going to send me home to do so. Less than forty days left and I am broke. What a bummer. The worst thing about it has been the hazing from all the guys. Every month they give out an award to the hardest worker, called the workhorse award. Last month I got the award and now I am broken. Yep a week after I get the award. How convenient they say, now that you’re a workhorse you don’t have to work anymore huh?
Before I got hurt time was flying by. I was on night shift from 6:30 PM to 5:30 AM. I really enjoyed night shift because it kept me out of the heat and I was working with a great group of guys. The one thing about this deployment is that I have work with some really good people. I have met some pretty strange ones too. I did lose my temper twice and went after the same guy on two different occasions. The one time he ran and grabbed a five foot long metal stake to protect himself. I felt really bad and apologized to him after the fact. The guys were relentless though. Every chance they got they were running and grabbing poles or concrete stakes to poke fun at him. My temper has come a long way but under these conditions with this much on my mind it is a little more challenging to control, especially when someone runs their mouth. Overall I have made some good friends that I will keep in contact with. I have learned a lot about myself on this deployment, like what matters the most to me, my wife and kids. Everything is about them. I have reflected over and over again on what my time was spent on back home. What is more important to me and why I waste so much time on things that really don’t matter but take time away from Jill and the kids. I don’t want to miss a thing that goes on in their lives. It killed me that I missed Morgan’s first day of kindergarten and Colby’s whole baseball season. I hope and pray that when I get home I can keep it in my mind always how much I missed them. Our Heavenly Father blesses us with trials and tribulations to strengthen and teach us. This experience has been exactly that, a blessing that has helped me as a person, a husband, and a father. He never said it would be easy, he said it would be worth it.