A soldier’s story, the return home, page 1

Part one:

As the new age approaches I cant help but think back on the times of my life when life in general was a lot more clear. I mean a time before political correctness and when you always knew what one was saying, a time before the economy was at the top of every news broadcast. Oh we had our battles over the years, wars and occupations effect every generation in one way or another, but I can remember a time not so long ago when those topics didn’t concern me. A time I guess you would say when I was younger, but not so young as a child oblivious, but a younger man in the work place with a family and responsibilities, were the only real concern might be where we might go on vacation this year. A time when work was plentiful and it was so that the employer need you more than you might have needed them, a time when you could truly find a job that was enjoyable and not a chore. There are those whom still have that luxury, oblivious or just uncaring about the future with the live for today and let tomorrow take care of its self attitude. I use to be one of those and at times I surly wish it could be that way again, but today everything is a struggle, our freedoms at jeopardy the invasion of and outside force not willing to adapt to our way of life, and God for bid if you speak out against such a people then you are labeled a racist or possible worse if you could think of something worse. With talk of end world events and the constantly changing weather patterns, for every job offer out there 100 applicants trying there best to claw their way into the position just for a hope of some kind of normalcy put back into their life. The future of this once great nation is on rocky and unstable ground for the first time in our history, oh yes we may have stumbled once in awhile along the way but nothing like the storms we are facing today. Since know one can truly tell the future or predict where and when the next storm will hit, all we can do is prepare for the worse and hope for the best. Since we cant say what the future holds for us I will tell you a story of something that has already come to pass, a story that took place back in that time when old enough to know better but still to young to truly care. A time when we felt like we ruled the world not much unlike the young generation of today, most troops returning from Vietnam, and not giving the respect they deserved with all the stories of bad happenings when in theater. So now I will take you back, back to a young man returning home for the first time in many years, a young man whom left as a boy and returned aged beyond his years not unlike so many who have come home.

My name is Tommy, I just got off the bus with my duffle pack on my back as the rain storm seams to be reaching its peak I see nothing more than a small light over the closed box office and a lonesome bench with no cover, I have no ride and really no place to go, I hadn’t even written home to let them know I was coming since I didn’t want to deal with a crowd be, them of friend or foe. The rain seams norm to me and bothers me none since most of my days in the jungle it seamed to rain and it gives me a cleansing feeling. Well I flipped up the collar on my long coat and began to walk towards the main road not sure where I was going to go or what I was going to do once I arrived, there’s not much traffic out here tonight and I guess that’s a good thing as I walked along the shoulder of the road heading south. Lost in my thoughts as I tried to recall some of my youth, see this is my home town not unlike any small town with a population of 3000 people all year around, and that number doubling in the summertime as those from the city would come to the shore area to spend time at the beaches. I as well was born in the city but my family moved down here when I was just nine years old. This was a time when people would leave their doors unlocked and keys to the cars in the ignition, no crime seemed to exist and everyone knew everyone in the neighborhood.
As I started my teens, often you could find me at one of the three lakes in the area, playing, swimming or just sitting and writing my thoughts on paper. It wasn’t long before I came part of the beach patrol, see back in those days we weren’t considered life guards, but our duties was to maintain the beach by cleaning up trash and keeping the people safe. We had some training in water rescues but nothing as you might see today.
It was around this time I started to notice girls, and you might say I had a lot of girl friends. Was never a sexual thing, just kid stuff like holding hands playing spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven as we use to call it with a kiss here and there all in good fun, often switching girl friends on a weekly basses within my little gang if you would. You could always find us together a merry band of fourteen or so out to concur the world and never getting further then the lakes down the road. I remember sneaking out of my bedroom window in the summer around midnight to go shoot hoops at the ball park that was no more than a hundred or so yards from my house, thinking I was some sort of big shot out in the middle of the night. Until the day my dad said to me, “look stop using the window since he was tired of fixing the bottom frame” then he explained to me how he knew all along that I was going out and the first few times he would follow me to see what I was up to. And when he realized I was just going to the basketball court and was meeting up with some of the older boys from the neighborhood he just left me alone to do my thing as it where. So much for thinking I was so smart and acting like the big man who pulled a fast one on his parents.

Instead of posting a bunch of parts here on ATS please visit the link for the rest of my story.
drmeola.blogspot.com...