Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Two casualties of war

Normally I'd be off to sleep (it's 1:57am here) but I was witness to two things, almost back to back, that markedly unsettled me today.

I had occasion to brief my organization's campaign plan to a visiting unit. One of my coworkers, Rodger, ran into someone he'd known for a long, long time (who was in the visiting unit), and asked how the wife and kids were. The respondent said, matter-of-factly, "I'm divorced."

Another guy in that party was coming up to visit my boss, who had been this guy's first company commander in a former life. When my boss saw him, and asked how the family was, the other guy's response was "the kids are doing great." That raised a red flag or two in the back of my head. A few minutes later he alluded to "getting divorced was probably the best thing I could've done for them."

I wonder, after a fashion, if these relationships might have survived had it not been for the grinding down that repetitive combat tours does to people. I wonder.

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