“I’ve been having an affair,” she said.
It was my first day back from war—Desert Storm, 1991, where I had been a Military Police First Sergeant.
“It didn’t mean anything,” she went on, pleading. “It was just physical.”
That was supposed to make me feel better? I felt like a frag grenade with the pin pulled.
I had seen it happen before to my soldiers. The “Dear John” letter. The young wife left at home. So the soldiers get shot at, the wife is lonely.
Without trust, there is nothing left. I grabbed my pack and bicycle and took off riding. I rode for days. Sometimes it rained, but mostly there was the burning July sun, like in Saudi. Each day I rode myself to exhaustion; one day across Oklahoma and Missouri was like the day before and like the day after. I rode, panting, sweating, burning underneath the sun.
“Where you going?” people sometimes asked.
“I don’t know. I went to war. When I came home I found my new wife was sleeping around. Where would you go?”
They wouldn’t look at me after that. “I don’t know,” they said.
I see them now: soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with hollow eyes and grim expressions. And things change while they’re gone. Back from war and not knowing where to go.
My old grandpa used to advise how, “The toughest trees grow in rocky soil.”
Don Quixote never gave up. There would always be new windmills to joust.
“Together, these stories provide riveting personal accounts of what the war was really like for those who fought it on the two main fronts of WWII.” From Two Fronts, One War, by Charles W. Sasser. Available in hardback at your favorite bookstore or online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Moving. I’ve never understood infidelity.
Morning, Carol. Things happen, as we say in the military, paraphrased here. Take care. chuck sasser
When my husband was on a remote assignment, three of his friends received Dear John letters. He said it was hard to see his buddies suffer.
Hey, guys. For some reason I now receive your responses on e-mail and respond directly there to you. If you receive, please let me know. chuck sasser
Your grandpa was right.
Hi, Sally. Just wanted to know if you received my e-mail response? It’s easier to reply by email if everybody receives it, sicne I know seem to receive your comments on email as well. see you soon, old friend. chuck sasser
Yep. Got your response. God bless!
Same thing happened to me after Panama in ’89 Chuck. Knocks the wind right out of your sails…so to speak.
Mike Warden