#11 He sounded... almost normal

Had a fairly pleasant call from Soldier. He was calm and measured and he didn't yell at me once or even raise his voice (it's been a while). He says even with the Ambien and Lunesta he's not sleeping at night all the time... Good nights and bad nights. He's working out in the gym at the hospital every day and has gained back 15 pounds he'd lost. He says he's feeling better.

He's still waffling with respect to whether he stays in the Army or gets out, but he's pretty sure if he's got an option to get out, he'll leave and make a start here. He says he thinks he could stay in the Army, but if he went back to Iraq he doesn't think he'd make it very long before he lost it. Just the thought he says that he might snap in battle and get himself or his squad killed keeps him awake with that nightmare.

He had been thinking about going back to [STATE] and applying for the PD, but he has come to realize that the logistics of moving back there (the expense, finding a decent paying job until he could get on the PD... IF he c/ get on the PD, finding affordable housing, etc.) was more than he could manage. He knows he has a place where he won't have to pay rent while he gets established, there's a VA medical center fairly close, lots of jobs (he'd like to get back to landscaping or work on a ranch) while he considers his options and there's two colleges locally he's interested in -- one that offers veterans free refresher classes in math, english, etc. 'cause they know vets have been out of the "school mode" for a while. He says he'd like that. And no pressure while he figures out where his life is going. So that's the plan today. But tomorrow is Monday and that usually means there's a new plan. It's been a long time since we've had any of our kids at home, so it will be a big adjustment for all of us.

His Sgt. still has not done what he said -- which was that he'd get Soldier's lease cancelled and move his stuff to a safe place. If the Sgt hasn't done it by Tuesday, Dad is getting on the phone with the Lt or the Capt. The Sgt will not be happy about that. I'm telling you, if I ever meet this Sgt again in a dark alley, no amount of military training will save his a$$. It's stress Soldier doesn't need... and he s/b focused on his health and not the apartment and what's happening to his possessions. And still NO ONE from his unit (other than a few close friends... but certainly no one from command) has been to see him in FOUR WEEKS. Yeah. So much for that Band of Brothers thing. He feels absolutely abandoned and hopeless about that. Being away from the guys in his unit is one more stress he doesn't need. And he wants someone from the Army to come by just so he can get some answers to his questions. Says a lot of the guys feel the same. Why has the Army abandoned these guys? Sounds like the old "warehousing" of patients to me.

One good day. that's 26 bad and 2 good. But it's a start. I will sleep a little better tonight. He sounded... almost normal.