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Letter 3 – from Lt Col Jesse Arnstein USAF

Following my past observations of a more serious nature, this passage describes the typical lifestyle at my deployed location, Post X (I can’t use the true name due to security concerns).

Living Under Uncle Sam’s Roof – I’m re-living my childhood here at Post X. Yes, being a service member at Post X is very similar to an adolescent’s lifestyle. Military members are sometimes called “G.I.’s,” short for “Government Issue” because all their possessions were stamped with those words. G.I. an apt description as the military provides everything to us just as a parent would.

First, “parents” take care of nearly all household duties
-Laundry service is provided;
-All meal cooking, preparation, and clean-up is performed by an outstanding contracted crew;
-Other than our 50 sq. ft. rooms, we don’t do any cleaning;
-Clothes (uniforms) are provided
-Yardwork? Ain’t no grass here….

Second, you’re surrounded by “brothers and sisters”
-We work, play, eat, bathe, and socialize together with peers all day
-Each person has their own small bedroom in the same house
-There are no spouses, so everyone feels single to a large extent

Third, we follow all the rules set by parents
-Most of us go to sleep early (i.e. by 9:30), and wake up early (usually by 5:30)
-We wear the clothes we are told to
-Commanders (i.e. parental authority) have total say in what we do in work and lifestyle

Fourth, money is almost irrelevant
-There’s not many places to spend money
-There’s not much we need to buy anyhow
-The finance office only dispenses a maximum of $300 cash per month
-No one has any fancy possessions

Fifth, life is simple
-Our small Post X world is less than one square mile
-We usually follow the same routine day after day
-We walk everywhere on post

Sixth, alcohol is prohibited

Finally, we “play” with the same types of things we did when we were children: guns, trucks, helicopters, dirt, and gymnasium sports. (By the way, without question the best part of living in a time zone 8 ½ hours from East Coast time is watching the end of the basketball, hockey, and baseball games at 7:00 in the morning while I’m at the gym!).

Just about the only difference is now I’m able to violate a cardinal childhood restriction, and have fulfilled the youth dream of eating as much sugar-cereal as I want! Frosted flakes, Apple Jacks, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, CoCo Puffs galore!

The simplicity of life is refreshing. Some people talk of the benefits of simplifying their lives and “down-sizing.” Deployed life is Zero-sizing! It’s all geared towards having total focus and time for the mission; which is absolutely vital because mistakes can have dire consequences, sometimes the difference between life and death.

Despite all the benefits of being a child living under Uncle Sam’s roof, I miss living with my immediate family; Jill, Aaron, and Sarah. An Uncle can spoil you, but I still long for home. Jill made me a precious photo book picturing the best of times in 2013. On Friday nights I sit up in my bed with a flashlight and slowly turn through the 20 pages. Memories of a wonderful life, that now seems so distant. I see my dear wife, son, and daughter in my arms at the Jersey Shore. A snowman in between Sarah and I on a frigid day. Our family trips to New York City last winter; atop a skyscraper; at Rockefeller Center; standing underneath an awning emblazoned with “Blondie” (The pet-name for my wife). Aaron and I with ear-to-ear smiles at an Oakland A’s baseball game. The children and I huddled under a blanket at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Being a child is liberating, but I miss the comfort and love of my true family.

Before I left New Jersey, Jill and I adopted a song that captures our feelings of being separated by the military- Elton John’s “I Guess that’s why they call it the Blues.” The video portrays a young man drafted into the Army and going through boot camp in the early 1960s, and his sweetheart back home missing him. For each of them, everything has changed, but in contrasting ways. For the boy, his entire environment and everything surrounding him is foreign. For the girl, the surroundings remain the same, but it all has a different meaning since her love is now absent. The only thing they now share is longing to be with one another.

It’s been over two months since Jill and I parted. Sometimes I’ll play the song and think of Jill, New Jersey, and what a different life and surrounding I now have. It reminds me that even though 95% of the time I am focused on the military mission, the people and lifestyle I left behind are very real, and life goes on for the one’s I love.

The bitter-sweet song also reminds me that the deployment and the simplistic lifestyle is all temporary, and if the Almighty is willing, I shall return to New Jersey and embrace my wife like never before. I so look forward to the day I will dance with Jill to this song at my welcome-home party.

I miss you Jill.

-Your soldier boy, Jesse