And We're Back

Back in North Carolina enjoying the warm February sun.  Ok, so I have to admit the weather around here is pretty awesome.  I was so happy to wake up and not see snow!  It had been quite a while since that happened.  So in the deployment world, we are 4 months (the same amount of time he was in training this summer) into this nonsense and still making it through.  Gunnar's birthday was yesterday and he called us and a few other people too.  Apparently the signal for the satellite phone that he uses had been upgraded somehow and we were able to have a clear conversation for the first time in months.  Usually the call is dropped several times and Gunnar ends up quite frustrated.  He is definitely not in love with Afghanistan or the Afghan people.  He hasn't had a day off since moving to the new Combat OutPost and is completely exhausted.  His days generally consist of building the COP during the day, and going out on patrol each night.  Basically that leaves him with very little time to eat or sleep and subsequently he is losing a lot of weight and the grumpiest I may have ever heard him. 

People ask me pretty frequently if Gunnar regrets his decision to re-enlist.  There's a lot of complicated ways to answer that.  And no really clear answer.  Some days, hell yes he regrets it.  But most days the pros outweigh the cons and we just keep looking forward to being back together.  There are a lot of perks to the military lifestyle in general, the biggest drawback being these long separations.  Our future still is a big huge question mark.  We are going to have to decide if Gunnar is going to re-enlist in a different MOS, stay Infantry, finish these 3 years and get out of active duty, enlist in the Reserves.  Lots of things to consider.  Right now I am just trying to get through this stupid deployment and get him home safe and sound.