Good Bye Benning

December 14, 2007

“My Country ‘Tis of Thee
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of Thee I Sing”

We spent all day today in the “process out” phase. Everyone in my flight was busy packing and cleaning out their rooms, and then we all had to stage our crap at the Company Pavilion. At around 1130 they told us the bus would be leaving at 130 for the Base’s air strip where we would board a plane for Leipzig, Germany enroute to Kuwait City.

So we sat around most of the day and I was struck by all the complaining there was going on around me. Many people who had gone through the same long week of standing in lines and classroom BS that I had were now standing around bitching when the damn thing was finally over. I couldn’t believe it. It’s not like these people got drafted or anything! These were all volunteers who were probably getting paid as well as I was for being there. But the tide of discontent was still swelling and it frankly made me sick.

As we boarded the buses for the last time I was bombarded by my own emotions. The fear and longing and excitement were finally coming to a head and it was again, very unreal. We got to the staging area and were horded off the buses and into the terminal in very short order. The TSA could learn a great deal watching these soldiers process people for flights! There was no BS taking off of our shoes, or stripping our carry on bags before going through a metal detector, etc. We walked up to a soldier, told him our names and what was in our pockets and then BAM, we were through. And then we shuffled into a hot meal line that consisted of Turkey and all the fixings, and then they had several TV’s playing, and an area where we could get free books and magazines, and there were reclining chairs to put our feet up in…I felt like a real hero! And then it hit me…these people were treating us so nicely because troops usually going through here didn’t always come home intact. And so it was the same mind set for us civilians who were still going into a war zone. All the nice gestures they had laid out for us suddenly changed color. I was getting “My Last Meal.” The fear that the turkey had help subside slowly crept back into my mind.

And then it was time. We were herded into the “Lockdown Room” for final briefing before boarding. Once inside, the phones were shut off, and cell phones jammed, (literally…the Army jammed the cell phones), and we were greeted by the base Command Sgt Major. He was funny in his send off salutation. He told some corny jokes, thanked us all for our service, quoted General Patton, and then passed the microphone to the base Chaplain. The Chaplain also tried to tell some corny joke but it didn’t have the same effect. I know for me, all my prior thoughts about being fed my last meal culminated with this Man of God. I wasn’t looking for a chuckle from him. I don’t consider myself a religious man by any means, but when the Chaplain took the mic I couldn’t help but think about my maker and what his plans were for my immediate future. And then the man stunned me. He took out his bible and read a Hymn that literally brought tears to my eyes. When he was done I wasn’t afraid, and the confidence in what I was about to do was back again in full force. The Chaplain’s role as straight man to the Sgt Major’s funny guy couldn’t have been more effective. He read aloud…"My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.”

-Jim Franks