My Troops

I can not imagine what life must have been like for the families and friends of Soldiers of previous wars when technology was primitive compared to today. This is what has been on my mind lately. Here, let me explain.

I have two friends who are serving this country overseas. One is serving through the United States Navy whom I have known for about 3 years and he is considered my best friend for life and the other is serving through the United States Army whom I have met through my Navy friend and is quickly becoming a close friend as well. Thankfully these men are on the same team at their location so I am very happy that they have each other. Both have become the best of friends and I know the friendship will last a lifetime. They are expected to come back home sometime in September and I am counting down the months until that wonderful time comes.

As far as communication goes, I have had the luxury of keeping contact with my two friends through phone calls, text messaging, e-mails and even traditionally hand written letters. If I were in this situation 50 or even 40 years ago I would not be so fortunate to have such a variety of ways to keep in touch with them. I now realize that I take all of these forms of communication for granted and I should really count my blessings that I am so fortunate to have access to these kinds of technology. I don’t know if I could handle only written letters which takes about a month to reach their location. The anxiety and impatience for a reply to reach back to me I imagine would be unbearable.

I spend many of my hours thinking of these two friends wondering what they are doing, if they are safe and when my next chance to talk to them will be. The most popular choice of communication is through e-mail as it is the most convenient for the three of us. We can communicate without having to take time into account because the time gap between us is large… if it is 10:00pm Wednesday where I am, it is 6:30am Thursday where they are. I have the calculations down fairly well because I usually calculate it every three hours or when I take notice of the time. During this past semester of school, I got extremely spoiled when one of the two sacrificed his minutes and sleeping time to call me during a long break in-between my last two classes. I suppose he did this to keep me company and give me something to keep my spirits up. In all honesty, I got used to having that phone call once a week but now that those classes are over… I don’t get that call anymore, which is okay because I was a little uncertain about him wasting his minutes anyway. The point is that I took the phone calls for granted - I counted on those calls without ever thinking that one day I would stop getting them. I always knew they were special but now I realize just how incredibly special they were. We did text each other a great deal over the course of a few months but they have died down due to technical difficulties and that he is working long and hard hours. The e-mails we send back and forth to each other are more than enough. I am just happy and thankful to have them. I write him multiple e-mails each day to make up for the lack of texts and phone calls. In a way, the mystery behind e-mails make the communication between us a bit more exciting and more special because I can keep them saved on my computer.

For those that read my blog, you may be wondering if this is the same Navy friend from an earlier posting and the answer is yes, I have written about my Navy friend before and I wrote about how we met and how much I appreciated him only to now realize how much I really miss him. He and I share such a unique friendship. We write many e-mails to one another that are long and thoughtful and we tell each other just about everything that goes on in our lives, our thoughts, dreams and past memories. He always sacrifices his free time and the limited time he has to use the internet to write to me and I appreciate each and every e-mail he writes. Most of them are incredibly long e-mails and each time I see that he has written so much, I feel very special and grateful to him. I could write a novel on this incredible friend of mine… there is so much to be noted and appreciated with the friendship we have been blessed with but perhaps I will keep those stories for another time.

I am so very proud of them both, I wish there was something more I could do to make their lives easier… to show them how much I appreciate them for all that they stand for and do. For now, e-mails will have to do but when they return to the States… they should expect the greatest welcome home embrace imaginable.

God Bless Our Troops <3

Love,
Kelly