A few years ago my dad came back from serving in Afghanistan. He was gone a very long time. When he came back he surprised me while I was at school. It was just like how you see on the news when the military parents surprise their kids in front of the entire school during a pep rally.
Since his return, I had met many of his friends he served with during the war. Many of these men would come to visit. I overheard many stories and the things I heard were pretty amazing. I heard how my dad had served and saved many troops. They gave him a bunch of medals. He was a hero not just to me but to many others. My dad was very brave and it sounded like he was always protective of his men.
My dad would always get a care package from home from my grandma and apparently he would give away most of the candy and food he would receive in the box. The main theme of every story about my dad was how helpful, giving and kind he was during the time he served with these men. They all would reminisce how my dad helped them get through some pretty tough times. It sounded pretty scary. It made me feel very proud to know how much these men respected my dad. They described my dad as the first one to ‘go through the door’ and ‘the last one to eat’.
One day I asked my dad how it really was over ‘there’ during the war. And it was interesting to me to hear his answer. My dad went into detail seeing his best friend blown to pieces and seeing the bloody aftermath of a shoot out on the side of a road block. He described how he was afraid to close his eyes to sleep and how scared he was the entire time. When I asked how he was able to get through it all, he said being helpful to his buddies. He said that when he was helping others that were just as scared as he was, that he felt a sense of calm and peace. That in essence, his kindness and his willingness to help others during extreme circumstance was his focus and the distraction kept him from being as scared as the others. My dad said that being kind to others that were in the same circumstance gave him the power to achieve and stay alive.
