Freedom Bird

1 AM 20 May Soldiers sleeping on the hard pavement, many of us still awake with the excitement of the upcoming trip home. Red eyed sore butt only 3 more hours to wait.
3 AM I think I am on the next bird but I am unsure. Planes have come and gone all night. In an effort to get back on Texas time I have stayed awake for 22 hours now. Red eyed and heavy feet but I found some coffee; I am good for another couple of hours now.
5 AM Plane finally arrived again no sleep head bobbing. Crap I forgot my ear plugs. So the deafening sound of the military flight will stay with me for hours after the flight.
We arrive in Kuwait load a bus and yet another stop where hurry up and wait comes into play. Then another prayer. “Please call my name” They did this time for the first group it means I get to go home today and will not have to wait until tomorrow. I managed a nap before we headed through customs. Now in another wait status……and then the word comes, the flight is late. Damn it, can’t we just go home? As we stand and sit and stand again a combination of misinformation and sore butts from the metal chairs brings me to smell myself, “shit I stink. I need a shower.. I try to recall my last shower and when I finally do I realize that it was some 37 hours ago. In this heat this is unacceptable. I smell like a goat.
Finally after all of the hurry up and wait we board the “Freedom Bird”. I can’t help but feel like an inmate released from prison and for the first time in a long while seeing the outside. The freedom bird is the first taste of color. The plane was blue and white with a US flag on the side. The hours of wait have finally paid off. Heading home. Day 1 at home already mapped out in my mind.