Bittersweet

I will miss being an Army Wife at times. I did love lots of my experiences as a Military Wife. I miss shopping on base, hanging out with my military wife friends, and living closer to Nashville. I grew so much and during this time I think I truely became an adult.

Walter Reed was bittersweet as well. I miss our friends there (D and N) and all the amazing events we were so lucky to be able to go to. I will never forget the Soldiers I saw there or the pain I felt for my huband and for everyone I saw on a daily basis. I have counted my blessings over and over knowing that it could have been much worse or much harder. I am honored to have met all the Soldiers there, they are the essence of Heroes. I am so thankful for the organizations that helped us through all of this. I will continue to donate to those that were the most beneficial. WWW.Woundedwarriorproject.org and www.soldiersangels.org and www.yellowribbonfund.org

The battles are not completely over. I want to continue fighting the Non-Medical Attendent Pay that stops when you get assigned. We will continue to fight the VA and the Army for possibly the next 5 years. However we are thankful that we have health insurance and that all Bryan's meds are paid for. What a blessing. We wished for us and everyone else that is on TDRL that they will realize that they hinder our lives and will start passing out permanent retirements.

Bryan is liking his new job and we are thankful he has it. I pray that his brain is sharp and it will continue to get bettter. I am glad he is doing something he enjoys and I pray it will be a good place for him to work for years to come. I wished that the pain was no longer there but I think we have both come to terms that it will be there forever.

I guess this is really a mini reflection on the past 20 months. It's been an uphill battle but we won. We have surpassed the odds and somehow we are still married We are loving our house and our new puppy Trixie.

I hope things continue to get better for us and other families that are in our position.

Injury

April 1st, 2008
Today I woke up feeling tired. I had nightmares all night last night that when his job saw his medication list that they wouldn’t want to hire him. I guess I am always expecting the worst with the job situation. He takes a lot of meds but without them who knows where he would be. I got to work and my sister texted me and said her fiancé was hit by a bullet in the wrist. She didn’t know much but thought he was going to be ok. My heart broke. Hopefully he won’t lose anything and no broken bones. Made me flash back to when I got that call. Luckily my sister heard directly from J and that makes it much better. I hope she gets some more news soon. The waiting is the worst. He was heading to Striker to see what the status of his injuries is.

B called and said that J didn’t break any bones and he is currently on morphine to help with pain. They are leaving the wound open to let the infection come out. There were three others injured. Two were hit in the leg by bullets and another grazed in the back. One other guy got hit in the femur so it broke his leg and he got shot in the butt also and he came out his back but he is doing ok. The other guy got shot in a large artery near the groin so he may have problems walking right again and will probably be long recovery. Sounds like it will be a long road for some of the guys. That is so hard I know I have been there. My heart is hurting for them. Justin was blessed his injuries weren’t worse. He is back at their base and is resting. I know my sister wants to be there but it is best that he isn’t being sent home as that means a long life altering recovery. I know she is scared, it sucks. Luckily he is close to coming home, they killed the men that were shooting them, and he will have smaller duties until then.

I have been on the brink of emotions all day. Even though it has been almost two years for us, it’s still so raw. The reality of what war has done to us is still very apparent everyday. I want to reach out to those women who are about to go through this. I pray for them even though I don’t know who they are. One of the soldiers was single so his parents will have to step up and be there. That makes it harder at times. I can’t believe this has happened to my sister too. No one is immune to injuries or death there in that extreme country.