I'll Take That Call Any Time!

Our son called at 4:00 yesterday morning (to be fair, it was 2:00 in the afternoon by him -- and frankly, I'll take that call any time!) He's currently in Kuwait waiting to get transport back to Iraq... but because his weapon is secured at the last camp/airbase he traveled through in Iraq (many miles from his company's old position and many, many miles from their new camp), he has to travel back there to retrieve it (apparently, that's the rules.) So he has to wait in Kuwait until there's transport available to that original point of deportation and then has to wait at that camp/airbase a few more days to get transportation to his final destination. It's not like you can just catch a train -- [apparently] somebody's got to be going your way.

The "up" side of that (at least for me anyway) is that it might take him until after the weekend to get where he's going. I'm certain our son (who has the patience of a gnat usually -- wonder where he gets that from?) is not particularly happy about just hanging out with nothing to do... though he sounded pretty stoic about it. After I told him about my conversation with the Guys, he said he'd take a few cartons of cigs to them and try to round up some of the dire necessities before he headed back (I'm telling you the bond is great...)

He said his flights back were fine although he couldn't sleep and has been awake almost non-stop since he left the US on Tuesday. He's hoping that now that he's in Kuwait he'll be able to catch some rest in the next few days. He sounded good -- although I'm certain he misses his home and his friends. Couldn't tell if it was resignation to being back or just weariness in his voice... Certainly didn't hear any jubulation.

Seems that with 15 days of unlimited computer access, he still didn't get done some of the things he needed to do... So he asked me to call up his favorite soldier clothing place and get him some green (not tan) sew-on (not clip on) sets of his new rank and be sure to order extra sets in case some of the Guys need them... and a poncho liner in green... and what's his new address? (which unbelievably I already know by heart and even more amazingly could recite at 4:00 in the morning from a dead sleep! damn I'm good LOL!) and could I get online and order him a pair of desert jungle boots and charge them to his credit card? (I went to the internet site he told me and I'll have to wait for guidance as there are not less than six styles of principally the same boot... From experience I know that the wrong pair will destroy his feet -- if he'd even wear them at all...) I've always wanted to run my own personal shopping service... LOL. So far in this deployment, I have shopped for tactical shooting glasses, gun lubricant (none better than Militec-1 which provides and ships the world's best gun lubricant to soldiers in combat areas totally FREE), kevalr shooting gloves... But these are simple things that make me feel like I'm doing something...

And he did thank us for everything... and told us that he loves us (such a good son!) Not sure when we'll hear from him again, but it just can't be soon enough!

Update: So I have an IM this morning from one of "my Guys" and I let him know that our son is going first to retrieve his weapon and then will make his way back... He says, "um, Mom, we have his weapon here." So I say, "Wonder why they don't know that in Kuwait?" Seems because my son had gone on R&R before his company relocated their AO, he is unaware that the weapons people collected his weapon and brought it along when they moved... sigh. Hope someone tells him or he calls again...

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