Extension means missing holidays at home
Soldier laments three extra months added to service
On Tuesdays and Fridays, the Sun is publishing e-mails sent by Jason Henderson, 23, a 2002 Naperville Central High School graduate who is serving in Iraq, to his mother, Cathy Henderson of Naperville.
Today we publish an excerpt from one of Henderson's undated e-mails.
Courtesy of the Henderson family
Life had actually gotten too good to be true. We were supposed to be back in the states in October, so we would begin packing up midway through September. It is April and I go in on leave at the end of May. This means that even by the worst calculations I would have a mere 4 months when I returned from leave.
Such was not to be though. I noticed the story on AOL.com while waiting for my email to open up: 3 month extension for all active duty Army units.
Not wanting to believe such a travesty could be true, I opened up the link and read, with increasing dismay as Sec Def Gates laid out the plan.
It isn't that I agree or disagree with the decision. My politics and theories on the world carry no weight here, but it is quite disappointing. For me 90 days isn't the rough part, because when you really think about it 90 days isn't all that long. The part that wears on me is that it will be another Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years away from my family.
It will be another Halloween where girls send me pictures of their costumes and tell me how much they wish I could have been there. It will be another Thanksgiving where I will be lucky to catch one football game. It will be another Christmas spent in a guard tower with a large Iraqi soldier.
It will be another New Years watching helicopters drop flares in a celebratory spirit.
On the other side of things, it is bit more money, but I would gladly trade that for spending the holiday season at home. So as it stands now, when I return from leave I will be back to the 6-month mark. For lack of a better word, it just plain sucks. But we must cowboy up, soldier on, drive through, ours is not to question why, king and country and all such things. As it is, I will settle for the fact that I will be home just in time for my birthday, so prepare for one hell of a party.
Jason
