Update from Mortaritaville and the Homefront

I jumped when the telephone rang last night at 10:30 p.m., fearing the worst as one does with those late night calls. Noticing the Caller ID showed Maryland, I wondered who’d be calling from there at that hour. Then it dawned on me that it was probably FlyBoy, as his calls from Iraq are routed through the Eastern states.

Excitedly, I answered and heard my sweet son’s voice. "What are you doin’?" I asked. He told me that he was about to fly but on the way to the airfield, the base began getting mortared! Since he was waiting for the "all clear" before heading out toward his helicopter, he decided to call his Mom! Is that guy special or what? I can’t believe that he had the presence of mind to think of someone else at the very moment his life was in danger! I was freakin’ out at the thought that his base was under attack at that very moment and told him so! He said, "Mom, it happens all the time!" Swell, like that’s gonna help me sleep tonight.

Damn this war!

He sounded somewhat depressed and I commented on it. (Like who wouldn’t be depressed to be in that kind of situation) FlyBoy was missing his new bride and a little upset because he was having difficulty getting in touch with his Fall Girl due to their schedules and the time difference. We chatted and I told him about the package I was sending, and the children from Mrs. Walker’s class that "adopted" him, who were preparing letters to send to him this week.

When he began talking about his military missions, he began to sound like his old self; animated and assured. He said he’s flown about 50 hours so far, averaging about 5 hours a day, or night…in most cases. Then he told me a story about a copter that cut some power lines and went down right in front of him the other night. He said he was the 3rd helicopter behind them and they were flying without lights and it’s pitch black despite their night vision equipment. The guys in that crash were very lucky to have survived without serious injury, FlyBoy said. As a result of that crash, some good has come from it, as the policy has changed to where they are now flying just 200 ft above the ground so they’ll miss power lines. (At least I think that’s what he said…or was it 400 feet above?)

He said he’d seen his first human casualty… a member of the Iraqi National Guard who’d been murdered by insurgents and left alone in the desert. I wondered about the Iraqi’s loved ones and if they’d ever know what happened to that man who gave his life for his country and the fact that they’d never know how it affected my young FlyBoy.

Or me.

Damn this war.