Homeward Bound

Finally with a fresh new battery on board and a planeload of tired, spent soldiers we were ready to point our nose towards the long journey home. Things were different than we all imagined right from the initial boarding process. Our crew was in full pep rally mode and had the aircraft decorated to welcome everyone. We had special treats on board we thought they might enjoy after a long haul in the desert. We were excited.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that this was a pretty subdued group joining us. We fell in with them and helped everyone get comfortable and got on our way.

As we were preparing to serve meals we discussed the hush in the cabin, hoping they were just overwhelmingly exhausted. There were a few here and there who were clearly joyous to be headed home, but there were a lot of vacant stares and heads down on backpacks. About half of them ate and then settled in for some quiet.

During the long night I got some insight into the mood on board. Some of those who couldn’t sleep wandered back to the galley and drank coffee and talked. It was great and I knew they just needed someone fresh to tell their story to. Some of the stories I heard, I suspected they were unloading on a safe person before they got to family because I don’t think they would share those with Mom.

One soldier who made an enormous impression on me and showed me the invisible wounds of war, came back with his laptop. He stood in the galley talking to me for over an hour, drinking black coffee and showing me pictures of his time spent over there. It was surreal. I had to mentally step back so I could maintain a calm composure and be a good listener for that young man because I can assure you he was not showing pictures of summer camp. I realized it did not occur to him that none of us had seen anything like that on CNN.

In his mind, he was just telling the story and showing pictures. He had to get it out.

I realized with immense sadness that we had taken aircraft full of enthusiastic, excited young kids over there and now were carrying home truly wounded warriors. That price that we cannot see must never be overlooked. Our thanks at the end of the flight were not enough. There are no pictures to show of this flight. It was an individual journey for each soul on board.