In February 2009 the Steelers had just beaten the Cardinals
in one of the most memorable final two minutes in Super Bowl history. That next
day, while 1.5 million Americans called in sick, I started pre-deployment
training in Fort Lewis, Washington. At the end of February I was bound for
Afghanistan for six unforgettable months. I was 23, single and entering the
great unknown. I was a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force and I was going to
Kabul, so I was not concerned about my safety.
There were six of us in the office in Kabul and we were all
passionate our NFL teams. Spending 7 days a week, 12 hours a day together we
became very close. We leaned on each other as the pressures of being deployed
picked up. One thing we did to mark the time was follow the NFL
ritualistically. From pre-deployment training to end of tour our deployment was set to span the
entirety of the NFL off-season. The start of the 2009 NFL season was a mirage
on the edge of the mountains that surrounded us. When the NFL season started we
would be in America; remembering what beer tasted like and what the word ‘weekend’
meant. America was Football and Football was America.
The NFL Draft put as at about halfway through the
deployment. The winter cold turned to the summer heat. June and early July were
a dry spell, both in Afghanistan’s weather and in the activity of the NFL
off-season. The spell ended and training camp started; we could finally hang
onto every kernel of trivial news about our teams’ sixth round draft pick. The
Hall of Fame Game marked less than one month to go. I still remember Chris
Johnson had a 16-yard run in that game. How I remember that so vividly, I have
no idea. The preseason started and more highlights flooded in. We held a fantasy football draft
in our office. By that point the deployment was almost finished.
My commander sat down with me one day in late August said
that since I was moving to a new base when I got home they could let me go a
few days before the rest of the team. It was easy saying goodbye to Afghanistan
but not easy at all to the people in that office. They’re etched into my mind
forever. They have changed, they’ve married, divorced, had children, been
promoted, redeployed, separated from the military or retired.
Many of you with military experience are reading this and
saying ‘An Air Force Officer, went on a 6-month vacation to Kabul.’ It wasn’t
the grueling suckfest that warrants glorification. But it is all relative. On a
team of 18 people in those six months there were two divorces, one divorce
threatened, and one person had to go home to take care of a spouse. No one on
our team died, but death was close by. A colleague that sat next to me at a
meeting was gunned down. One day in the dining hall a teammate saw a friend
from college, one week later the friend was killed by an IED. One of my team
members put a coke top on string whenever someone died from the Task Force we
were deployed to, at the end of the tour he had over 40. It wasn’t an easy
deployment by any stretch. And when I stepped on that C-17 it felt like the
entire world was starting over again and then I slept the entirety of my two
days of travel. Then I was back in America. The grass was never greener. Architecture
of the simplest homes fascinated me. The next Thursday I was in my friend’s
home watching the opening game of the NFL season. It was good to be home.
A lot has changed since then. I’m out of the military. I
keep up with only a few of the folks from that deployment. But every time the
NFL season kicks off I think about all of us leaving Afghanistan and returning
to our families safely. Sitting on the plane that is taking you home is a feeling
of elation and relief that mixes the end of the school year with high school
graduation and all your birthdays rolled up into one. Every time September
rolls around I get that feeling again and that is why the start of the NFL
season is more than just a sporting event.
No comments:
Post a Comment