Captain America

No matter when or where, to me, there is something overwhelming about encountering a soldier. Regardless of their background story, who they are and where they come from, they are always going to be braver than me. For that, I salute them. The military is such a respectable career choice it just isn’t one I ever had the courage to choose.

Today I am feeling patriotic. For many people I’m sure this is a daily thing, but for me it really isn’t. I often find it hard to feel patriotic between the chatter of how the world is ending and the government is leading us to hell and other intolerant and closed minded opinions and bickering. At least that’s how I interpret it. Anyway, that is a blog for another day.

Friday, for whatever miracle of a reason, was a quick day. Late in the afternoon a soldier came in. This isn’t uncommon seeing as there is an Air Force base located in town. Soldiers come in and out during the chaos of the day but I’ve yet to strike up a conversation with any of them until Friday.

When there is only me and one other customer I feel compelled to have conversations with them so there isn’t that awkward silence in the lobby.

As the hero of my story this guy gets to be Steven Rogers for the day; better known as Captain America. Maybe he’s a lieutenant but rank is irrelevant to me. He’s wearing his fatigues, no red white or blue but he’s someone’s hero and he’s the hero of my story, therefore, he gets to be Captain today.

So, I do what I do best and start talking this poor guy’s ear off. It is amazing how much you can learn about a person in 10 minutes or less. I asked him how long he’d been stationed here and if he was career. He just hit the 10 year mark in his enrollment and before Louisiana he was stationed in New Jersey and before that he was originally stationed in Germany.

Of course I mention how I’d just been in Germany this summer so we rattle on about the food, the style, the smells and the culture.

While stationed in Germany, Captain America and his wife had their second child. Their oldest was barely three. He was deployed three times to Iraq during their time in Germany.

“The hardest thing about my second deployment was that my youngest son wouldn’t give me a hug when I came home because he didn’t know who I was,” he said. “He was too young when I deployed to remember me.”

Guys, I couldn’t make that up if I tried. How many more families in the last decade alone can relate to the same heartbreak? Captain wasn’t negative or angry; he just had a hurt expression of memory across his face as he told me about his deployment.

I asked no further questions of what he did during his deployment because I have military family and I’ve heard plenty of things about war I could have gone my whole life without knowing. Going to war is a very personal thing. I don’t care if he sat at a computer all day, he's not at home with his family watching them grow but living in a foreign country at war. That’s a line I never want to cross.

Committing his life to a military career was a choice and he knew the consequences. For him, some decisions are a bit more severe than others and the possibilities are endless. But it was a choice. A brave one at that! I understand the choice was his and he is paid with benefits and so on, but there is no draft in today’s times so essentially this man is a modern day Patriot. This guy didn’t have to sign up to fight for our freedoms but he did. Some of these freedoms none of us are even aware of or appreciative of.

This is a short blog but I just wanted to remind y'all, again, that the world isn't as terrible as we always make it out to be. Be grateful for the little things. Be grateful for everything and not just at Thanksgiving around a table of delicious eats.