Inside My Velvet Rope

Ah, that made me cry as well. It's sort of funny to know that I'm not the only wife who jumps on her soldier when I see him. *deep breath* One more week until I can see him again, if only for two weeks.

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I thought of you when I saw this video a couple of weeks ago, but I wondered if asking when he'd be home would just be rubbing salt into the wound. I'm glad he'll be home soon, and I hope you enjoy your reunion.

Do you mind when people ask about him, or do you appreciate the thought?

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He's not coming home. We're meeting in Ireland for R&R for two weeks, then he goes back to Iraq for another six-seven months.

Contrary to what is in the news, there are thousands of soldiers over there now without the protective force that used to exist. If Jim didn't have helicopters right where he was, I'd be a wreck worrying.

I don't mind people asking about him. :)

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I'm glad you get to vacation with him. That way both of you get a break where you can truly focus on each other.

I learned long ago not to believe what the media says about such things. It broke my heart when I watched some soldier interviews online and they said, "I hope this is the last tour." Many of those people were reservists, not enlisted women and men who had a better idea of what they were signing up for from the start.

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This is Jim's third year there. I had him home for 9 months this last time between tours. 9 months out of 3 years. The media can go fuck themselves for ignoring the sacrifices our military has made - for completely ignoring us. I'm getting a degree in journalism solely because I'm so insanely sick of the blind, one-sided view the media has on everything.

Trust me, enlisted men and women didn't have a better idea. 99% of them enlisted to earn money for college. The worst part? I know that he'll get sent off to Afghanistan when he does come home and we'll start this insanity all over again.

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I thought than when a person enlists, they know they are signing up to be deployed overseas on the government's whim, where a reservist is more likely to think they are just giving "a weekend a month and two weeks a year", as the commercials put it. But I realize a lot of people enlist and do ROTC mainly to get money for college, not to get sent out to be cannon fodder on the government's whim.

I hope you are able to use your journalism degree to spread more truth in the media. It is sorely needed.

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The regular Army enlistment contract is virtually the same as the Reservist contract. I have both here. Jim was a Reservist before he enlisted and then again while he was doing ROTC. The only real differences come into retirement calculations.

*hugs*

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Thanks for opening my eyes...and for the hugs. *hugs back*

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It IS a tearjerker.
Lovely Irish song, too bad there were no credits.

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I believe if you click through to YouTube, the artist and song title are given.

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Got it!

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slave2tehtink.livejournal.com

It's actually not an Irish song, you can get it off Amazon's MP3 downloads, look for "Praan" by Garry Schyman. It was originally done for Where The Hell Is Matt? (http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/ it's the "Dancing 2008" video) which is where I got the name so I could pull it off Amazon! :)

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Interesting--sure sounded Irish (words, at least), but I did find it on iTunes and it's on my wishlist for when I have some money for tunes!

Do you know what language it is, if it's not Irish?

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slave2tehtink.livejournal.com

AHA FOUND IT! Sorry it took me so long! It's a poem in Bengali, you can read the original and the English translation here: http://penguinsix.com/2008/07/10/lyrics-to-praan-the-stream-of-life-song-from-where-the-hell-is-matt-video/

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Why, thank you! That's wonderful and I will check it out shortly.

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After my parents married, there was only non-wartime service for my dad. Sure, he was stationed apart from us, but I have no memory of reunion details. Given the abuse, I have to wonder just how happy my mom was to see him again.

I remember when we left him, in Okinawa, and the scary taxi ride to the port to leave on a Navy transport.

When we settled in San Diego, he only got a POBox address, because my mom didn't want him to know where we were. I don't think visitation was very frequent before the divorce finalized, save from very public places.

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I'm glad you were able to get away and that the military was not complicit in helping him find you all.

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trust me, that was rare at the time, and even until recently.
I think I remember being in the office with her explaining the need, unless that was the office of an attorney before we left for Albuquerque in 1965/6, explaining why she was removing us from San Diego.

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I believe you. I have heard too many stories of how law enforcement and military personnel hinder the safe escape of the abused spouse and children of one of their own.

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rockbirthedme.livejournal.com

What made me cry was the father who had a bouquet of balloons for his daughter ... and then got practically flattened by a little girl who probably loves balloons but right then didn't care about anything except having her daddy back. What a marvelous thing that was to watch.

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