can we all just agree that the extension of army deployments is a pretty tough situation, and that it's pretty awkward to have been the one to tell

your army friend about it?

here is what happened. i woke up on wednesday, took a look at the news, read about how currently-deployed active duty army personnel are having their current 12-month tours of duty extended to 15-month tours, and got really upset.

there is a person i love who is in the army and is in the middle east right now, and i would like that person to come home as soon as possible. and when i find myself getting really upset about that person's being away, i try to remember that, although my feelings feel somehow special and unique, there are lots of folks all over the place who have similar feelings about other people in the army. and really, all those people want their loved ones to come home too.

anyway, i was kind of not really okay for awhile, and i needed to spend some time in the garden with my thoughts. so i did that, and then i came inside and made the person some cookies, because that's one of the things i can do. and after awhile, i thought i should email the person to let them know that i knew (the person had recently sent an email commemorating the halfway point of their deployment), and this is the exchange that followed:

me: hey, i read about the extended deployments. if that applies to you [which i was pretty sure it did] i'm really sorry. take care of yourself. i'll be in touch soon.

the person: [several hours later] no, where did you hear about that? it doesn't.

the person: [a half an hour after the other email] um, yeah. maybe it does. i'll let you know.

this exchange makes me wonder a couple of things, among them who is running the war if some random civilian knowns that the army will be away from home for an additional three months hours and hours before officers do? also, should i have phrased my email differently? i mean, i would never joke about something like that, but if i had known that i was informing that person (and possibly some of that person's colleagues), would i have written something else? oh, and also WHEN IS THE WAR GOING TO BE OVER?

that is all.