As if my aching joints, having a soon to be 21 year old son, a 17 year old daughter with one more year of high school and, last but not least, with impending grandfatherhood looming rapidly were not enough to make me feel older, i had another bit of news that made me feel old.
Once upon a time, everybody in my family was involved with the Japanese martial art of Aikido. (Interestingly enough, my wife stuck with it the longest, getting to point where she earned her brown belt and the right to wear the Hakama) When I first started, one of the kids in class was a junior high aged kid (about 13-14) named Jake. Well, this young kid became a man, got his black belt in Aikido and also enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. His older brother has already been to “The Sand Box” in Iraq,.Now, Jake is about to get his first deployment-this time in the small, but strategic country of Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. They are going to have a going away party for Jake tonight tonight. I plan on making it. He’s become a really nice, mature young man. I am humbled that this young man will have experienced anything-way beyond anything I experienced during my time in the USAF and the Army Reserves.
Where Jake is going to go has the potential to get pretty gnarly. Soldiers from Eritrea and Djibouti are literally dug in within yards of each other in a veritable no-mans land. If hostilities come to pass, beyond the obvious loss of life, we have several hundred troops in Djibouti and a war could have ramifications for shipping that goes around the Horn of Africa.
Too many of my compatriots don’t appreciate that their ability to sleep soundly in the comfort of the beds, with their loved ones depends on people like my friend Jake who have to be in some pretty unpleasant places-far from their loved ones, putting themselves in harms way.
Hurry back, Jake. Keep your head down and your eyes on the lookout. We’ll be thinking about you and we’ll keep the beer cold for you.
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