Tuesday, July 18, 2006

So kiss me and smile for me


My dad should be leaving Kosovo today. He'd been hearing from various sources for a couple weeks that July 18th might be the day, but he hadn't gotten official orders, so he was trying to be skeptical rather than hopeful. But I guess last week the orders came through, and he's scheduled to fly to Germany today (as far as I know). Then from Germany he'll come back to Fort Benning in Georgia for "outprocessing," which is a word that perfectly exemplifies the beaurocracy-speak of the U.S. Army. Who knows how long that will take, but the upshot is, he'll be back home in Nebraska in another week or two (and I know one redhead and one old chocolate lab who'll be very glad to see him).

I think he'll be glad to be leaving. In his e-mails he was sounding kind of tired and bored with staying on the base all the time, working in the ER in 24 hour shifts and not doing much else. But I guess in the last couple weeks he got to do a couple days of clinics out in the country, where they basically tell the citizens that they're giving free medical care and just treat whoever shows up as best they can. That's pretty much what he did in Ecuador last fall. I think he really likes those days. (That's my dad on the left treating villagers in Kosovo. The guy on the right is his translator.)

So I'm looking forward to hearing from him when he's home!

Thanks for reading.

2 comments:

Erica Mulherin said...

Yay! I am glad he is coming home safe and sound. WHat a relief!

Zach said...

Whoo-hoo! Good to hear he's home again. Here's hoping it'll be a long time before any future call-ups.