3.5 weeks has passed since James and I wrapped our arms around each other for our last embrace.
We had to "stage" at a big parking lot that was luminated by lamp posts at 11pm. The drive from our apartment to the base was a ride full of silent tears, stolen kisses, spoken promises, I-love-you's and I'll-miss-you's.
Once we arrived, James had several check-ins and report to 'this and that' jazz. The whole night turned into a long affair of coming and goings of soldiers. There were many other wives/girlfriends and families staying for the all nighter to say goodbye to their loved ones and praying that it wasn't the last time.
Two of James' buddies, Hinther and Thaete, hugged me goodbye and promised me that they will watch over James and bring him home to me at the end of the 7 months. I told them that they better bring themselves home too.
Saying goodbyes suck.... they cause havoc on my heart and mind.
"I really hope this isn't my last hug... kiss... smile...."
"I hope I didn't send him to his death."
"I pray that if he does return that he is still my beloved, the one my heart knows."
When he stepped on that bus, I climbed to the top of my car. He slid down a window and stuck out the "I love you" hand signal. I waved an "I love you" back, blew a kiss and the tears streamed down my face as I watch the buses pull out. I stood there for a bit, praying for God's mighty angels to surround the troop, to guide them there and to bring them home.
Like I said... it has been 3.5 weeks. James has been able to email me several times and here are some of the updates:
May 19th:
things got a little weird with where we are going. i dont think i will see eric. the reason why is because they sent a few guys to different areas to do the turn over. i am right now with sgt soto at a different place. its okay, they have Internet here and i am doing cog, corporal of the guard, which means i am on post for 4 hours walking around once an hour to all the post to make sure they are doing okay. so far its okay. i have to wake up their relief so that is the interesting thing because i have no idea who these guys are to wake up and where they sleep. i am sitting the coc, center of command, and i just ran into a guy that went to bootcamp with me. i came in here and said my name is yon what is yours, he said landy, i said did you go to boot camp on the east coast and where you in echo company there. he said yes and said that i looked familar, i said i was the scribe, then we just started catching up. the guys here are ready to go home. they said its been a good and long deployment. there arent showers here so they all look really rough.
May 24th:
well i got moved again, thats why i havent been on lately. we got moved the next day from where i was at to a bigger place, then i got told that i am going back to another small area, not with my platoon, and stay there for the 7 months. so right now i am waiting for 2nd platoon to get here so that we can go to this other place. i hope you know i cant exactly tell you where i am going so ill use the word place instead. all i have been doing is waiting to get going because the sooner i start doing something the faster these months will go by. the first week went by fast for me, the second however has gone slow due to all of this sitting around and waiting bullcrap. but i do have something interesting.
i woke up about two days ago to find a fly in my eye. i swiped it off and went back to bed. apparently that fly gave my eye pink eye. so i went to the doc they gave me some eye drops that burned like hell and made my eye go numb, then they put this black light thing on my eye to see if it scratched it, don't worry it didn't. then they gave me some more eye drops. so far it has gone away. but isnt it funny that a fly gave my eye pink eye. its so weird.
soto and i have been hanging out. he really isn't that bad of a guy when he is just one on one. he has been asking me a lot of questions about my bible and religion degree and where i stand. so its cool to be able to talk to him about that.
May 25th:
Ok another update on where and what platoon i am in. i was sent to 2nd platoon for a total of one day. while i was there i was a team leader and vehicle leader for the 1st truck. then after doing all of the work that requires getting the trucks ready to head out, i get told that i am going back to 3rd platoon. my platoon. i was like, what the heck! keep me somewhere. well when i got back i found out that i lost my teamleader position. i am upset about that. but i am in hinthers team. which i am okay with. we have a good team. its just that i wish i had my team back. i doesn't look like i will be getting that position back anytime soon. as of right now i am still going to my original place and with my original platoon.
my eye is getting better. i have been using the tear drops that the corpman gave me. however it is hot and i have been drinking a lot of water and eating a lot. i don't think i am retaining any of it. i feel as if i am still losing weight. i have gotten to where i am drinking about 7 liters of water so far. i eat like crazy so that the water can absorb in my stomach. but i still feel as if i am losing weight.
i found out where the I and I stations are in michigan. one is in saginaw and the other is in grand rapids. the thing that i found out about the stations is that it is very hard to get into them. but when the time comes for me to think about re-enlisting i want to find out if i could get one of those stations and then just do nothing but pray about where we are suppose to go next. i have watched a few british movies latley and i wouldn't even mind seeing if there is a mission opportunity in great britian. hopefully scotland. or even wales. but if the Lord calls us somewhere else we will answer that call.
May 30th:
as far as being in the turret, no, i am a dismount. that means i will get out from the back of the truck when we get contact or need to get one of our guys out. its a different feeling to go from team leader to team member. but dan and i talked about that and he said he will do what he can to help me out with that.
June 1st:
as far as i am feeling i am feeling good. yesterday eisert and myself had a layreaders service. only one person showed up. that was the lieutenant. it was just the three of us. i was reading the night before on what to read. i read from 2nd samuel 23. the versus about davids mighty men. on how each on of those men stood their ground against the enemy. but they did that with the faith of the Lord on their side. then i read from galations 6. the armour of God. then asked what are some of their prayer request and i asked the lt if he wouldn't mind if we could come up to him during the deployment and pray with one another and just ask him how he is doing. as christians we shouldn't have this separation of enlisted and officers. we are one big family so act like it. he said he didn't mind that at all and said he would be okay with that. then we prayed and that was it. a good start the meetings.
as far as being back in the gun, i feel okay. i am the senior gunner now so whatever i tell the other gunners to do they do it. i am not in the lead truck which i am okay with, kind of wish i was though bc of my experience. we haven't had time to shower and get cleaned up in the past couple of days so i am smelling extra rank right now. its bad that you cant sleep when your own stench is what keeping you awake. so i am hoping that soon we will be able to get a shower and sit back and relax soon.
**Obviously, I have cut and pasted from my e-mails. I decided to spare you all the mushy-mushy.**
I have been lucky to be able to talk to James about once a week through Facebook chat. He sounds alert, healthy and motivated. Also, I hope to keep posting updates for those who want to know what is going on with my man.
He would love to hear from anyone:
Lcpl Yon, James
2nd BN 3rd MARINES WPNS CO
Unit 44065
FPO AP 96607-4065
OR
james.m.yon@gmail.com
My joy is the magic of a Michigan sunset on a lonely country road.
