Neighbor, Billy, leaves for 2 months of training in Oklahoma to get ready to go to Iraq. He will be missed in this neighborhood.
I just got back from a neighborhood party at Billy's house. He is married with one step-daughter. Billy has been to Somalia and to Kosovo. He works on helicopters. He made us promise that we would take care of wife and child, especially to try to make wife laugh while he was gone. We ladies in the neighborhood have already begun to make plans to keep her and her daughter occupied, but I know we won't be there in the wee hours of the morning when they both will be wondering. Billy told me tonight that it will be a good thing if they don't hear a whole lot from him, as that will mean he's OK. He then said, "Of course, if you see the car pull up to the house and military guys get out, would you promise to come straight over?" I promised.
Billy is a career soldier who has served and continues to serve his country honorably. He is looking forward to finishing 20 years and retiring. It will be 20 years for him in 5 more years. He has been told that once he gets back from Iraq, that he will not be deployed anywhere outside the United States again. One last deployment. We all can't wait for him to come home for good.
Tuesday cannot come too soon for many of us. Billy has his assignment and will be in Iraq for at least one year, but hopefully there will be many more coming home within the year Billy is stationed there.