18

NMCB 18 is now into their second or third month of their deployment. From what I understand, they battalion was split up between Iraq, Afghanistan with a small contingency staying behind in Kuwait. Many of the people that I deployed with are back over there again. So I am having a hard time dealing with that part of it. Not a day goes by that I do not think about Dan, Paul, Ron, T-Mac and so many more of those guys. Although I just completed a five month "mobilization" period, a big part of me feels guilty for not being out there with them.
It does not help that we just hit the four year anniversary of Chuck Kompaa's passing. I can still see myself working on his memorial mural and I still feel some guilt about being the one to have painted it. Don't get me wrong, it was and still is a great honor for me but it was hard. I received a couple of e-mails from his family, thanking me for the murals but I wish that I could have done more for him and them.
That's what is hard about life, you don't get "do-overs."
Three plus years later, I look through the photos and the letters from that deployment and I still miss being over there. I miss being with the guys. We worked hard but what we were able to do with limited resources made up for the long days and short nights.
Seabees; Can Do!