Decompression

Making it out of Afghanistan is a great feeling. Most people feel very relieved to be leaving a war zone. It does not matter that the military flights are always uncomfortable. We are packed in there like sardines. Wearing body armor makes it worse. Some people even have to fly back with caskets of fallen service members on the same plane. That's sobering to say the least. But, it is worth it to leave a war torn country. Our first stop out of Afghanistan is in another one of the "Stans"- Kygystan to be exact. This is a former soviet republic that is now an independent country. It has been in the news for several months due to civil unrest. It's unstable, but for now we have a base here that serves as the transit center to and from Afghanistan.

When the relief of leaving Bagram wears off, people generally have a lot of different emotions. For me, it is simply mental exhaustion. I just want to vegetate watching movies and doing other mindless things. There is a certain amount of hypervigilance about safety that goes along with being deployed. Even at a large base like Bagram, you have to be on guard. You learn to sleep with F-16's roaring through the sky and explosions off in the distance. Now, we understand the phrase that the "silence is deafening". It is strange to have pure silence although those moments are few here given that I am sleeping in a tent with 130 marines. We all need time to process everything that happened on our deployments. This will take weeks. For some it will take months. For others they may never reconcile what happened. My 130 marine roommates definitely had a very different experience than me. It all needs to be compartmentalized to a degree to return to normalcy.

Enough with the psycho babble... LET'S PARTY!!! That is exactly what is happening here in Kygystan. This base has all sorts of amenities to keep us occupied. The average stay here is about 72 hours. Having a little fun is important. There is a cool hangout here called "Pete's Place". It is located in the middle of the base. It has a large deck, pool tables, a stage for entertainment, and of course a bar. Everyone is allowed 2 alcoholic beverages a day. People let loose. The young nurses from Bagram have been severely tipsy on 2 beers. Nice. Karaoke was the center attraction one night. I thought about singing a Neil Diamond song, then thought the better of it. Last night there was music provided by the local Kygystans. It was really entertaining. They played some interesting instruments which rang out some American songs for everyone to sing along. The ladies had elaborate costumes for some exotic dancing which was quite a sight for many sore eyes. A good time was had by all.

In the next 48-72 hours I will be back in my close to the beach condo in Charleston. There will be a reunion with my dog Maddy. I cannot wait to jump in the ocean. Taking a nap on the sofa sounds fabulous. Lounging at the pool while catching some strong South Carolina sun is a must. Seeing friends and family again will be a lot of fun. When the dust settles, another deployment will be in the books. Then, the process will continue on with some serious decompression.