On December 27, 2004 I was at my apartment after a late night of drinking at the local bar. A short time ago, my roommate had a death in the family and had to fly out to Levelland, TX for the funeral. The same night I helped him adjust his Class A Military Uniform. I let him borrow a few medals, because he had lost his from all the moving we have done in the past. He had been gone about five days before I let him know the breath taking news about the deployment, but someone close had to tell him. See, I had received a phone call on the early morning of December 27.
“Can I speak to SPC Mann? You have been ordered to active duty for no more then 312 days”.
My heart dropped. I did not know whether to be excited, scared or just cry. I felt as if my life had ended for that brief moment, or had it just begun? Little did I know what experiences and endeavors I would adapt to and overcome. I picked up the phone and dialed the collect call number.
“Is Steve there?”
“Steve, I have some bad news. We’ve been activated, we fly out in seven days”.
As if he did not already have enough on his mind with the funeral, I had to make it worse. Steve briefed the rest of his family and friends of the news. They were shocked! I can remember his mother breaking out into tears every night we talked about the deployment until we left. Their son is going off to War at such a young age.
“What if something happens to them?”, they thought.
Steve and I banded together as a Team and calmed everyone down. Doing what we are good at, we used our humor to cheer up the family. We are very much alike in most ways. We are hard headed, breath taking, and will stand up for each other at a moments notice. We have made reputations back home and they have helped us along our journey as teenagers, as young adults and as Soldiers.
Then came that dreadful day, we had to leave. I have never seen so many people waiting at one airport just for a few soldiers! Steve, I, and all of our friends were caught up taking pictures and doing interviews for the local news channel. I remember taking smoke breaks about every 5 minutes. I was so nervous and excited to experience something new, and painfully sad to leave my family behind. Steve and I had promised each other we would be strong and not shed a tear. Well, it did not go as planned. The flight attendants and the captain were getting on the plane, next was us soldiers. With the other families crying and news cameras in your face, what are you to do? I did nothing but what any other person would do! I cried. After a few minutes with my mother, my brother came up to me and told me he loved me and that he was going to miss me! Tears rolling down his face, he did not know if his little brother would ever come back. I stayed strong and told him I loved him too and gave him a big hug. Next, it was our friends, the girls were crying and the guys were trying to be strong, but we finally had to board the plane! If you have ever left family before, this was nothing like it. You did not know whether you were going to ever see them again! It hurts, like a constant pressure on your heart.
We put our luggage away and took our seats. All I could do is stare outside off into the distance. The families were huddled along the fence line of the airport watching us take off. While we were trying to be strong in front of each other holding, whats left of our tears, back. Finally, the flight attendant got over the loud speaker.
"We would like to welcome all of the Louisiana National Guard soldiers aboard Continental Airlines. They have a long journey ahead of them and we would like to honor them here today."
The civilians aboard the plane started clapping there hands gracefully. We were not worried about what they felt at that particular moment, all we were worried about was leaving our families. It was hard to try not to think about it. With all the turbulence from the plane and the storm we were about to fly into, there was not much more we could think about.
