We were working a show in Ft. Walton Beach a few weekends ago, when a young Marine I had met a couple of years ago asked me to sit and talk with him for a few minutes that actually lasted a little over an hour. I had met he and his then girl friend just before he was leaving for Afghanistan for his first tour. Both he and his lady were very much in love and she was quite hesitant in his leaving for whatever could happen to her man. Coming home from his first tour was wonderful. Wedding bells rang and everyone was happy, and a beautiful little girl was born the following year. A mere three months later after the baby was born, the young Marine left for his second tour in the Stan.
The Story! My Marine has been back from his second tour a few weeks and has now separated from the Marine Corps as a reserve, here is the problem. The following is what my Marine told me. “I can write his story; however, I may not use his name or his wife’s.”
“Coming home was all I could think of while on my second tour, out in the field, on stand, on time off, every moment was the thought of getting back home, to be with my wife and daughter. I also missed my family, and all the friends I had left behind. Coming Home, the first two weeks were like being on a honeymoon and of course they were as we had missed one another so very much. The third week hit me, it was as though the vacation was over and I had to return to something only I had nothing to return to, our tour was over, then reality stepped in. I’d had a Florida Concealed Carry License for several years. The wife and I agreed that I would leave the firearm home for a few weeks as she knew that I would challenge and go to whatever and wherever the problem was, as that was how I had been trained, and that had been my job the last year in Afghanistan. My wife had read everything she could about returning military and it was all-bad. Therefore, the firearm stayed home.
That happiness and excitement wore off, after about a month. I would sit on the front porch with a cup of coffee in my hand, and wonder where the mountains of the Stan were. I missed them. It was, as though I was in between worlds “whatever that means.” Things that normally really aggravated me at my old civilian job didn’t bother me at all, nothing was as I had planned, I had no feelings for anybody or anything. I wanted to go back to my dearest friends still in Afghanistan doing what I did best and that was to hunt and kill our enemy, and here I am home and have little to no feelings. My wife will talk to me and I have no reason or ability to answer. It’s as though I were alone in the world watching things go around me. Everywhere I turn, I see Afghanistan, and those so very rugged mountains we traveled so very often seeking our enemies. Then I look at our flat lands, our beach, and our pine trees here in Florida, then at my beautiful wife and child and wonder what my problem is. I watch my child play and have little joy or feelings in my mind. I think she is beautiful and playful with me, and it’s as though I were standing in a corner somewhere watching myself sitting down watching my daughter play, my wife cooking dinner, or the shows on TV.
Today I’m at a Gun Show and don’t know if I’m having fun or not. My wife is having a ball, as is my daughter. My wife has been taking shooting lessons and has come here to get her CCW and my daughter has met a little boy that she can boss around while she’s helping him learn to walk. The Army Reserve Sergeant in the corner and I were talking about the AR-15 he was selling and asked me when I had come back to the states? I guess I was that obvious to him. You may know, he has been back from AFRICON for three weeks now, and told me I should talk to you. The Sergeant told me you had helped him when he came back a couple of years ago. So here I am sir, I have to get out of this mess. Also, I have not told my wife yet, I have been offered a job by a private contractor working security at some bases in Afghanistan and now again in Iraq. Sir I’m thinking of going back. I think I miss the action and the personnel I trusted with my life and worked with, I just don’t know what to do.
My heart wept for this young Marine, I told him he needed to join the VFW and the American Legion, where he would meet with service oriented people such as he. You can spend hours with Men just like you. Marine, when you get home today, Sit down and have a very long talk with your wife, tell her of all that bothers you since your return, tell her you love her, “very often” during your talk, and tell her you need her help.
I mentioned the following. “Marine, I have always stayed away from the VA after my 20-day stay completely drugged up, I couldn’t take it anymore. I spit the drugs out after the nurse’s left, and when I could walk and chew gum at the same time I walked out”. With that said, I understand that the VA in Valdosta Georgia and the VA in Lake City Florida are great, I suggest you try them.
The Marine’s wife found us at that time with a big grin on her face, she told us that their daughter like her dad had taken a little boy by the hand and shown him how to walk. The mother of the now walking (well most of the time) little boy had a big grin on her face expressing the love for her little boy, “He’s walking she said He’s walking and giggled” How beautiful is that? My young Marine friend smiled, shook my hand and hugged me. The wife saw what happened between us and smiled. She came back to my booth later shook my hand and told me thanks. Her husband for the first time in weeks is smiling. I asked her to be patient with her man, he’s good, dependable, square shouldered, and he will take care of her and their bossy little child who may teach other little boys and girls how to walk.
I feel very humbled in writing this, thank you Marine, your beautiful wife and child. Working shows in Jacksonville, Fort Walton Beach, and Pensacola I meet so very many of these young men and women serving and protecting our country. Unlike our snowflakes, these young men and women ask for nothing, other than perhaps a thank you when they come home. What a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year it was.
George Pouliotte