Troops and Trials

In a couple of hours my best friend Dustin will be in the air on his way to his Navy boot camp for 8 weeks. My brother made the announcement Christmas morning that he was enlisting in the Air Force. The better part of a dozen friends I've made at Tarleton over the years are/were involved in ROTC. A guy I used to date in high school is currently in the Army. The list could go on and on but I'm guessing you get my drift. I'm surrounded by countless brave men and woman dedicated to serving their country body and soul. I count myself lucky to have such self sacrificing friends and family and I don't thank them often enough for what they do.

It was hard saying so-long to Dustin (in my family we don't ever say goodbye). He's always been there for me... even when I was in Utah. Out of all my friends at Tarleton, he called and updated me the most often; outdoing all my other past roomies and frat brothers with ease. He keeps reminding me that it's just like when I moved to Utah for 6 months... I came back for a visit about 2 months in and so will he when he gets done with boot camp. The only difference is that when I was in Utah, we could call, text, email and IM constantly! This is more reminiscent of my brother's two year mission where all we could do really was write letters. At least I have some practice in that area and writing is something that I enjoy. And I'll have the plus of having his "son" Gus around to cuddle with when I start missing him too much. 


I suppose that seeing my "Brother" go off to military land will be good practice for me having to see my actual biological brother go himself. I should honestly be used to Bruver being gone (the whole two year mission thing) but it's still not going to be easy. Sure he was in a foreign country before hand.. but not in the middle of any hardcore danger (unless you count Taiwan's traffic... on second thought, yeah, that counts). I'll take doors slamming in his face over any sort of projectiles any day. But it's what he wants... what he's wanted since before his mission actually. 

I just can't help but worry.. it's in my nature.