When teenage Jack reflects on himself at seven years old it is a pure joy. He had a wonderful childhood with two parents that loved each other as well as him very deeply. But his father comes from a long line of people who committed themselves to the military and his father would decide to follow in those footsteps. The night of Jack 7th birthday his father tells him that the next day he is going to be leaving to begin his career in the military. Jack is ecstatic! He understands the legacy and his family, completely supports his father, and cannot wait for his father to return with souvenirs, pictures and stories. What Jack didn't know or have an ability to understand is the amount of time and commitment that his father was going to give to the military. But Jack had a job his father gave him to do, make sure that his mother knew how special she was, how loved she was and to give her hugs every day so that she wouldn't cry. It isn't until Jack becomes a teenager that he is told that his father has been in war. Eventually he confronts his father about this fact and realizes that sometimes parents lie to keep their children emotionally safe. What Jack nor his mother could have prepared for is his father coming home with PTSD. Like so many other military vets the illness overcame him, and he found himself unable to separate his military experience from his present life. This is a story that has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen to our military vets. The hope is that anyone who loves this country enough to dedicate themselves to it, when they return home that they are able to get any assistance that they believe they need in order to continue being wonderful fathers and mothers and sons and daughters to their families.
Reporting For Service
When I was a kid, I loved to read. I loved reading fantasy. Things where there were Dragons that were flying and carrying mythological creatures or people who had six legs and five arms and could battle with the best of them flying through the air. There was something very special about things being able to fly through the air and I think I was obsessed with the freedom of being able to feel the wind like that. The ability to touch a cloud, have you ever really thought about the idea of being able to wrap yourself around the soft white puffiness of a cloud? Flying in a plane for the first time was the only experience I ever got of that. It definitely wasn't the full experience, I mean I was in a plane, but I sat mesmerized for hours with my nose to the window just staring at my dream as it passed me by. Eventually I realized it's the stories that started with, “Once upon a time…” that are almost always going to end in either complete joy that just isn't realistic or sorrow which is more accurate to what I feel right now. I'm going against everything that I believe in because there's something magical, something mystical about my story. No dragons or gargoyles, no flying anything just a kid and his dad. It sounds so simple, I think that’s what I wanted my life to be but… here we go, “Once Upon a time there was a little boy name Jack…” hi, I’m Jack.