2nd deployment
Jacob returned home from Iraq. It was good to be home but he felt as though Jacob had been through hell. Jacob came home and disconnected from my first wife and my comrades. He quickly received orders sending me to Fort Carson Colorado. Prior to our drive to Colorado I decided to visit my mother in Atascadero California. My mother was always so happy to see me. She would fill the fridge with all of my favorite food. Every meal she made me was special, mom would always make sure to cook my favorite dishes.
My mother scraped by on a meager living making around twenty thousand dollars a year. My father had given me a used Chevy suburban. I really loved the legroom in that vehicle and it had enough space to carry about anything you could imagine.
The time with my mother went by quickly and it was time to make the drive to Colorado.
My wife and I had maybe gotten ten miles out of town when the suburban stopped. My dad had just had the engine replaced but the transmission was done. I traded the suburban in at a local dealership for a almost new four door dodge truck. I had wanted this model truck for a couple of years and I loved it.
So on our way to Colorado in my new truck. I i processed into Fort Carson to discover that the unit I was assigned to was deploying to Iraq in six months. I was required to attend a two month long military school in Virginia before my upcoming deployment. Time in military schools often goes with drunken nights at clubs with classmates attempting to pick up women.
I had made friends with Ricardo, a tall built Puerto Rican. The bar we spent the evening was closing and Ricardo grabbed me and introduced me to two heavy girls that had decided to go back to a hotel with us. They were both so excited, the sedan the girls were driving has a back seat full of boxes. The girls began throwing the boxes with reckless abandon into the parking lot.
My buddy was banging the bigger girl in the hotel bed next to me. I tried to do the same but could not. We spent the rest of the early morning there and grabbed a cab back to base. We were running late. We pulled up in the cab and saw the morning formation standing at attention. We ran to the formation still dressed in our club clothes surrounded by men in military fatigues. Someone asked us "what are you doing here dressed like that, you both reek of alcohol. So we ran up to our rooms to change. The funny thing is it was the last day of school. Somehow we managed to dodge the Command Sergeant Major that had been looking for us that day.
Back to Fort Carson Colorado and back to Iraq. My wife and I had moved into on post housing and became friends with the neighbors. I was not happy about deploying again and began drinking heavily. Weekends were spent barbecuing outside and inviting my soldiers over to indulge in a keg of beer and some good food. Our get togethers would sometimes spill over from our front yard into the neighbor's front yard. I made friends with my neighbor (Sam) with whom we would spend our evenings drinking a fifth of vodka. My neighbor and his wife Lucy) had a six month old baby (Jamie) who Sam would stay at home and care for while his wife would financially support the family serving in the army.
One day Sam and I decided to go look at bow hunting equipment while his wife was at work. We must of driven a couple of miles off of post when Sam said "shit"! I was like what? Sam said "I forgot Jamie at home". Needless to say we turned around to retrieve his six month old from home.
Okay, back to Kuwait prior to entering Iraq. This time we flew a C130 from Kuwait into Baghdad. Our pilot picked the prettiest girl on the flight and invited her into the cockpit, which she quickly accepted. The descent into Baghdad we were advised would include rapid maneuvering in order to avoid rockets and bullets.
