January 10, 2006 - I stood in the fluorescent-lighted downtown office of Navy Recruting District Buffalo, NY with my right hand raised. I was swearing to protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic when I thought to myself that I only had twenty years until I could come home. Coming home. It's all I've thought about for the last five years, but I knew when I took my oath that I was doing something I was meant to do. There's nothing like experiencing that you are fulfilling your purpose.
Duty.
For that reason alone I have been able to deal with the home-sickness; the pure dissapointment of missing weddings, missing family deaths, and missing births.
The Call. I was sitting in my office at the Naval Justice School in Newport, Rhode Island last month when I felt the call again. Specifically, expertise I gained in Guantanamo was going to be useful to the service. I've received orders to Afghanistan. It's hard to explain duty other than to say that you feel like you are going the right direction. I can't tell you much about the job other than I will be gone for a year and will probably be able to correspond mostly by letter. So instead of getting closer to home the Man Cave will be settling farther than it ever has. I'm proud to serve, proud to earn my citizenship, proud to be a Naval Officer. I hope I can see many of you before I leave on June 18 for training at Fort Bragg.
From the Man Cave,
Superfly
