(Luke's Point of View)
I have just awoken from a solid 8 hours of sleep and I feel human again. It's about 10:00 AM here in Iraq and I think it's a Sunday, but honestly I'm not sure. Prior to sleeping our unit had been fighting for 60 hours straight which was complete hell as the fighting has been getting worse but it's not surprising given it's the middle of June which means it's the middle of fighting season here in the Middle East. Today we have a day off which is rare, but it just means our unit is not required to be on patrolling duty but we do get a workout in, perform maintenance on our weapons, study new intel, and stuff like that and of course we are alway ready to leave at a minutes notices if we are needed and given how things have been going here recently I think there is a high likelihood that we will end up having to leave base today. I get up and head to the bathroom so that I can use the restroom, wash my face, and shave.
(Frankie's Point of View)
I am just waking up as I am sweating as it's about 120 degrees outside and it's about 10:15 AM, that's Iraq for you in the summer though. When I look over at Luke's bed he is already up but his bed is not made so I assume he just woke up and probably headed to the bathroom. Making your bed, keeping this tidy, and good hygiene are all very important aspects of being in the military as we are not rugged mountain men even though living conditions over here are less than ideal. I decide to get up and head to the restroom and then I'll come back and change, make my bed, and tidy my stuff. Just as I thought when I arrive at the bathroom I spot Luke who is shaving his face at the sink. I join him and I quickly wash my face and then being shaving my face too. About 10 minutes later I have finished and I quickly use the restroom and then wash my hands before heading back the room where we sleep on our cots. When I get back to the room Luke is making his bed and I walk over to make my bed too. Since we are on a large military base here there is an actual room for sleeping which has foldable cots for us to sleep on therefore we make our beds when we get up to keep things tidy. Once my bed is made I change into my workout attire which includes dark green shorts and a dark green shirt. Once I am dressed I put on my workout shoes and I head to the dining area.
When I arrive at the dining area I see a bunch of boxes on one of the tables. I quickly grab an MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) pack from the storage bin on the floor and then head to a table. The food is one thing that is not always so glamours about life in a combat zone. We usually have a cook as this is a large base that we are currently stationed at, but the Four cooks who were stationed here just went home as their deployment ended about a week ago, so for the last week or so we have been eating MREs which means most of our food is in packages that basically never expire, but food is food so we eat it. The rule of thumb here is eat and sleep when you can as they can both be difficult to come by some days especially during fighting season. Today I have beef ravioli as my main dish and blueberry cobbler for dessert and I begin the warming and assembling process. Moments later I am joined by Luke and a few other guys from our unit, Nicolas and Evan, who also have their MREs in hand. When Luke opens his MRE he looks like he has just won the jackpot. I then say to him "what did you get there Luke?" He then says "chili mac and peach cobbler." I then say "I guess it's a lucky day for you Morrow." He then laughs and looks at my food and says "hey you got beef ravioli and blueberry cobbler which is also pretty good so I would say that makes us 2/2 today." I then say "you're right, in terms of MREs I think we got the best two meal options." Just as we begin tucking into our meals our unit commander walks in and says "I have two pieces of good news for you the first is we have new cooks who will be joining us on base tonight late tonight which means starting tomorrow we will be back to eating hot meals when we are on base instead of MREs. The second piece of news is we had a mail delivery arrive early this morning. There is quite a lot of mail and it is all over on the table arranged in alphabetical order by last name. Lastly, though we have the day off from patrolling today please make sure you have everything prepped to go if we are needed at any given moment."
(Luke's Point of View)
Wow, this day is the best day I've had so far since being deployed. First off, I actually got 8 hours of good quality sleep, second I got chili mac and peach cobbler which is the best meal you can get as a MRE, and lastly beginning tomorrow we will have cooks on base again. That means no more MREs except on days we are in the filed, but hey even just a few hot meals is a real treat and honestly these days it's the little things like that give you a piece of home and really make a difference to all of us here. I am sitting still enjoying my meal when Nicolas and Evan get up and I see them head over to the mail table. Getting mail here in the middle of all of this chaos is pretty rare, therefore everyone gets excited about mail day as they are extremely rare occurrences. I am excited for all of the guys that today is mail day, because after the last few days anything that has a touch of home would be a welcome surprise and I think it will help inject some positive energy into our unit. Personally though, I am not expecting anything as I have no idea how you send mail here anyway and only my brother and his family know that I deployed outside of my wife. Given the fact my brother and I have a pretty strained relationship I highly doubt he would go out of his way to send anything to me or even reach out to me.
A few minutes later Nicolas and Evan return to the table with big smiles and a few packages each in hand. When they get back to the table Evan says "Luke I saw a few packages for you over there and you too Frankie." We then both stand up and head to the package table. When I reach the package table I head to the middle where the M's are most likely to be given things are organized in alphabetical order by last name. When I get to the M's I see 3 packages for me which is surprising and I have to do a quick check to make sure I am reading the recipient correctly and that my eyes are not deceiving me. Lo and behold the recipient name reads Lance Corporal Luke Morrow and once I confirm these packages are indeed for me I smile, because this is such a surprise. I then grab my three packages from the table and I head back to the table where I join Evan and Nicolas. Moments later I see Frankie heading back to our table with a few packages of his own. When I look around the room I see everyone beginning to open their packages and you can just feel the shift of energy in the room which is just what we needed. I'm really curious who sent me packages as very few people know I am deployed here. I reach into my pocket and I grab my pocket knife and I open it up so that I can cut open the firs box. The boxes have no return addresses on them so I have no idea who this package is from. When I open the first package I see an envelope with my name on it. I quickly open the envelope and I pull out a few pieces of paper. I unfold the first one and it says:
Dear Uncle Luke,
I miss you, I can't wait for you to come back home soon so we can play.
Love,
Spencer
I smile because I miss Spencer. I then look at the bottom of the paper which has a little drawing in crayon of what I assume is us playing basketball. Receiving a letter from Spencer warms my heart because my brother and I don't have the best relationship but it's nice to know that my family still cares about me. I then open the next sheet of paper and this one says:
Dear Luke,
Spencer, Jake, and I miss you a lot. We are thinking about you and we can't wait to see you again in Seven months! I can't believe that you have already been deployed for Five months. Spencer asks about you everyday and I know he can't wait to play with you when you get home. Thank you for your service to our country. We love you and we are praying for your safe return.
Love,
Hailey
I then notice one last sheet of paper and I open up the paper as I am curious about what is on this paper. I then unfold it and it reads:
Luke,
I know I was not very kind to you the last time I saw you and I deeply regret it. I know that you and I don't have a great relationship and that is my fault. I know I have avoided you for the past few years and that has been because I was still upset with you about the addiction that you had a few years ago, but I have realized that you were really young and we were all going through a hard time after mom's death and I know that you were hurting and unfortunately somehow got caught up with the wrong group of people and you got addicted to drugs. Since I learned of your deployment a few months ago, I have taken some time to reflect and I have wanted to tell you that I am sorry that I haven't been there for you and I am sorry that I have pushed you away. Mom's death was really hard on me and it took me a long time to get over it. As your big brother I was supposed to protect you and look out for you and when you started to spiral I knew I had failed you and I was worried that I was going to loose you too. At the time I just couldn't fathom loosing another person I loved so I pushed you away. I know that is a sad excuse and I know that I really hurt you in the process. I'm not proud of my actions and how I have treated you and handled our relationship and I want you to know that I forgive you and I am sorry for my behavior. Luke, I am very proud of you and what you are doing for our country. I hope when you get back we can work on our relationship because I know you are a good man and I want you in my life again.
I also know that day when you dropped by the shop before your deployment it was because you needed money to pay Johnno the remaining debt you owed him from your past. I want to let you know that I visited our little friend Johnno and I paid the remaining debt you owed him. I sat with him while he left you a voicemail to let you know that you were all paid up and I recorded everything for myself too so we have proof if he tries to pull anything. He is now gone from our life and we can all move on. Again Luke, I am sorry that I didn't help you earlier, but I hope this helps you now and takes some of the weight off of your shoulders.
I love you Luke, and I am proud of you. I am praying that you, Frankie, and all of your friends come home safely.
With Love,
Jacob
As soon as I read the letter I can't help but smile as relief washes across my body. I am so glad my brother reached out to me because I have always regretted the fact that we don't have a good relationship and hearing that he wants to have a relationship with me means everything to me. I also can't believe that he paid the rest of my debt to Johnno, but I am so relieved now because this means when I get home I can truly start a new chapter and I don't have to worry about my past and I can just move forward. Now that my debt is paid off it also means that I can save up to buy Cassie her own ring and I can start saving up for our future together.
Wow, I would never have guessed that my brother would be the one who allowed me to move forward in my life, but I am very thankful for him and what he did for me. Now that I have read all of the letters I open up the contents of the package which includes lot of snacks like pringles, trail mix, granola bars, nuts, and gummy bears which I know are courtesy of Spencer as those are his favorite treats.
Just when I thought this day could not get any better. I then open my next box and I pull out a letter that reads:
Hi Luke,
I hope you and Frankie are doing well and looking out for each other. I miss hanging around the house and getting to see you both and I am praying and awaiting your safe return. I also want to thank you for giving me a girlfriend stateside to hang out with while you both are on deployment. It is really nice having someone who understands what you are going through.
With Love,
Riley
I then open the package and I see more snacks which include: thin mint girl scout cookies, pretzels, popcorn, and beef jerky. I then smile because I feel an overwhelming amount of love today and honestly this is just what I needed given how bad things have been around here the last few days. I then use my pocket knife to cut open my last package. When I open my last box I see an envelope on top which has my name written on it and I recognize the handwriting as that of my wife's. I then feel a little flutter in my chest and I smile really big because I didn't know she knew how to send mail to me and I am just so surprised that she sent me something. I start by opening the envelope which contains a folded letter which reads:
My darling husband,
I can't believe you have been gone for the last Five months, I miss you like crazy and I can't wait for you to get home. I just finished a new song and I can't wait for you to hear it. I am a bit nervous about playing it for anyone but I think you will like it and it is very special to me.
When you left for deployment I wasn't really sure what to think or what to expect, but I can tell you that I didn't realize how difficult it would be not knowing if you are safe or not. Luke, this might sound crazy but you have changed my entire world and opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. I know when we first met I was very anti-government and didn't really care for the military, but being a military wife has given me a new found perspective on things. I also have huge respect for you, your commitment, your sacrifice, and for all who serve in the military. Over the past few months I have been doing some reflection on my thoughts and beliefs and I have realize how my upbringing and experiences have hugely shaped my political beliefs and perspectives. Though I still despise the idea of war as it just horrifies me, I am proud of you Commando and I am now proudly flying my Marine Corps flag and my American flag from our balcony.
I also wanted you to know that I look forward to our Zoom calls every week and I was hoping that we could maybe Zoom a little more frequently when your schedule allows as I miss getting to see you. This might sound silly, but every communication exchange we share I fall a little more in love with you which I didn't really know was even possible.
Lance Corporal Luke Morrow, you are forever scored on my heart and I love you with all of my being which is quite frankly scary to admit but it's the truth. Though right now we are a world apart, I can honestly say that I have never been happier in my life than I am right now knowing that I have you as my partner forever. I am counting down the days until you get home so that we can travel the world together and you can run your marathons while I write and play my music. I can't wait to see what our future holds when you get home. Please stay safe out there because I need you to come back home Commando because I love you.
With love always,
Your wife, Cassie
A tear slides down my cheek after I finish reading her letter, because who would have thought that this marriage would turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. I am glad to know that Cassie feels this way about me because I feel the exact same way about her and I can't wait to see where our life takes us once return stateside. I then smile because I know that no matter what life throws our way we are going to get through it together and come out stronger on the other side. I mean the proof is in the pudding, we are basically spending our first year of marriage a world apart where we have little access to communicate with one another and we are making things work and nether of us have ever been happier. Love is weird, some people never fall in love, other fall in love over time, and some fall in love at first sight. As I am thinking about my life and future it dawns on me that suddenly things in my life are coming together and I am so happy and my heart feels so full. I never realized my deployment would give me and those around me so much clarity.
Now that I have read her letter, I begin opening the rest of the package that she sent. I first pull out a few pairs of workout shorts, a few t-shirts, a package of socks, a package of briefs, a large sharable bag of cheese-its, a large bag of skittles, a large bag of recess pieces, a bag of beef jerky, a bag of chex mix, a box of cliff bars, shaving cream, shampoo, instant noodles in a cup, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, sunscreen, chapstick, a camo San Diego Padres cap, tooth paste, a pack of tooth brushes, dental floss, individual packets of powdered liquid IV, and gatorade. Just as I think I have unpacked the entire box, I see an envelope at the bottom of the box. I then take it out of the box and I open it up to find a printed picture from our wedding day and on the back she wrote the best day of my life. I have the biggest smile plastered on my face right now and I am sure I look like a lovestruck idiot but I don't care. Seeing a picture from our wedding day brings me back to what I would now consider to be one of the best moments in my life even though at the time I was certain I was making another poor choice in life.