He served 38 years. He was at the pinnacle of his field. Served multiple combat tours and trained many that served in combat as well. While giving a speech after receiving his LOM, he said something that really resonated with me. While incredibly grateful for the award, he was going to take it home and put it on the wall with other stuff that nobody has any idea of it’s meaning. Im at 22 years myself and wonder what any of it means. What will my service mean to my son?

I remember a post where somebody found a dress uniform and other military items in the trash. They located a family member and they said that’s where it belonged. Another post from a family member who’s father (a full bird Colonel maybe) was retiring from active duty and didn’t want any kind of retirement ceremony. Just drove off into the sunset. I think about him every so often and hope he’s ok.

I’m fine. I’m not going to hurt myself of anything like that. Just struggling really hard tonight. I’ll be fine tomorrow. Nobody to talk to about this kind of stuff.