I had to put another update, since I just read CaliValleyGirl's post about "The Graduating Class of OEF VI and OIF3."

This post is a must-read. It is absolutely right on about the mixed feelings you have at the end of a deployment. There's joy, obviously, that Ryan is home. But also, there's this, at the end of things, as Britt wrote:

"... I will miss my fellow bloggers and non-blogging interne-t friends who have accompanied me on this journey, either by me passively reading their blogs, or actually communicating with them. It's weird to spend almost everyday with someone, and be a part of their life, and then * poof *, they're gone. ...

"The flip side of the redeploying coin, is that once the soldiers come home and we have our lives back, we lose the connection we once had with many people. We were all thrown together into this deployment experience and have accompanied each other, but like with graduation, and the signing of yearbooks, and promises to keep in touch, the reality is that without the cement of the deployment, we will no longer really be a part of each other's lives."


It's a sad thing, really, to not talk as much anymore, circumstances of why we talked aside. Man, how I love those girls. My girls. My battle buddies.

-- Christy