Soldier home from Afghanistan

G. I. Jason's Travelogue. This soldier has been keeping his journal while in Afghanistan and now that he's come home, he addresses how he feels:

Like so many other things in life, I always figured the effects of "combat stress" would be something "other people" would experience, but not me. While my job over there was very stressful and occasionally very dangerous, I know of a lot of guys who had it much much worse for a lot longer period of time, and so I naively presumed I would melt pretty seamlessly back into normal life. My reentry hasn't been nearly as difficult as many I've heard about, but there have been some obstacles I hadn't expected.

Before I get into that, I want to tell you just a few of the awesome things about being home. I wake up next to my wife in a comfortable bed. We have an ice maker. I can have ice whenever I feel like it. The toilets are normal here. The water from the faucet is almost uniformly warm when I want it to be. Yesterday I began co-teaching a course at UMKC with Diana, something we've wanted to do for a long time.

And of course, most awesome of all, no one here wants to kill me, although it hasn't been easy convincing my subconcsious of that fact.

Read more. He writes well and is insightful.

Thank you, Jason, for your service.