Operation Military Run (In Progress)

(5) Two Weeks

Years had began to pass; quickly too.

I never expected for so many things to happen, and as they did, my plate began to get fuller and fuller and my stress level was through the roof.

As you might have guessed, Joe had finally moved in with me, quitting his job up in Denver, Colorodo for something closer to where my apartment was located and started his career as a mechanic at a near by auto repair shop. It was something that he was passionate about, but the money he had made in the beginning wasn't much at all. As time went on though, he became more experienced with his boss and learned more things then he had before, making him get pushed up with raises.

He was extremely happy that I allowed him to stay in the apartment, and I was glad I wasn't alone anymore. It felt so much better having another person be around.

For me, I had been deployed that very night I got off the phone with the Martial, which wasn't fun what so ever. I got shipped off to Iraq as soon as the pre-deployment checks were fine, and to me, it wasn't that much of a change. To me, Iraq was basically the hot version of Colorado.

Giant mountains were filled with trees and dirt. Beyond that, hills of sand and desert area. It was critically hot all the time and especially wearing the Marine Corps blouses that they had supplied along with a tan tee underneath that, and heavy ass pants that we were forced to wear. It was basically standing in the middle of hell with winter gear on.

My patrols in my time there were simple, take a good ten miles radius around the entire base with the dog, make sure there wasn't any IED's, and head back for the night or day. Depending on when they had me sent out.

One of the days, they made me go into a small town that was near by. They loaded all of us into the Humvees and made sure we were all prepared to go in. Taking the dog I was assigned too was a challenge, I was so used to my M.W.D (Military Working Dog), Zipp, that getting used to a new one was super hard.

After that quick town trip, we went back to base and I continued on my quick routine of scouting the area of any IED's, and especially when the Choppers were getting ready to land in a sketchy area.

The trip home for me was a huge relief, I wasn't dead, and the next time I was to go out on a deployment, I would be assigned back to my original dog that I had trained, which was a great thing for myself, but at the same time, coming back had felt off. Everything had felt so different after Joe had moved in, but I was able to get used to it with a few days time.

For all of you questioning on what happened to Tyler, well, let me tell you that mine and his relationship seemed to had taken off. Everyday that I was in Iraq, I would get some sort of email/Skype message from him, asking how my day was or if I needed any supplies while I was deployed. The answer was always no, but when he got deployed (which was a few days before I would head home), he sent me a small care package with things that I discussed with him that I liked. Simple foods and a letter inside that was way to familiar, also known as a Dear John letter. It didn't bother me though, I actually had found it quiet nice of him to have done that for me.

It was hard for me not to think about him with my short time back at home, I would message him everyday like he would for me and occasionally while I was back, I would get ready a care package and sent it out to him, which it would never be much, but it was something for him to open.

When he got back, I was only going to be back for about a week or so until I was to be deployed again, so, I actually had gotten a surprise visit from him before I had to leave, which made me about 300 times more confident than I was before.

He had taken me on about four dates while he was down (which he was down for 5 days) and a few which consisted of a shooting ranges, dinner, and a movie.