It's Been 5 Years...

... since Matt has come home from his tour to Baqubah and Kirkuk, Iraq. 

This has been Matt's only deployment.  He served as a light infantry foot solider and had the total "Iraq Experience." Which includes multiple car bombs, IEDs (improvised explosive device), and ambushes. On the 9 day rotations, 6 of those were in the city. His duties included watching the base from the guard towers, going on raids (some with Special Forces), and street patrol.  During raids, he was the first person to enter the home.  The base that he stayed on was tiny.  130 men in the middle of the city.  Stress was high, but luckily no was killed in action.  Purple hearts, for sure, but no deaths. During this tour he got to know the people, understand the cultural divides, and learned how damaging war can be to a country. 

Matt is now in the Army ROTC program at Boise State University.  He is training to become an Army officer, hopefully in active duty.  This deployment he had will not be his last, but it has significant importance to me and him. 

Let me put a time line together:

• September 2001--Matt joins the Army National Guard.
• December 2002--Matt begins his LDS mission to B'ham, AL.
• May of 2004--Matt is called off his LDS mission to B'ham, AL (of which he served 18 months) to deploy to Iraq. 
• May of 2004--Shannon goes out to Boise for 1 week to see Matt. They want to know if we really do like each other, and if we want to pursue a relationship. 
• June of 2004--Matt goes out to Alabama for 4 days to Shannon.  They want to pursue a relationship. 
• July of 2004--Matt leaves for Ft. Bliss Texas, to start his deployment. 3 months of training in Ft. Bliss, TX and 2 months in Ft. Polk, LA.
• November of 2004--Matt is on Leave in Boise. Shannon flies out to see him.  He proposes! They are engaged to be married!
• November of 2004--Matt leaves after two weeks back to Louisiana, to continue training.
• November of 2004--Matt leaves for Iraq.
• April of 2005--Matt and Shannon meet up in Alabama to be married! They have 2 weeks together. 
• May of 2005--Matt leaves for the rest of his deployment. 
• November of 2005--Matt comes home from his Iraq!! 

This deployment defined us. Our lives were this deployment.  I was going to school, some in Alabama, but mostly in Idaho at BYU-Idaho. Email was imperative! Having 3 or 4 emails a week was really nice. Maybe a phone call once or twice a week. Believe me, my roommates could tell when I hadn't talked to Matt in a while.  We both tried to stay positive, and we both grew in ways not know to us before.  We made lots of lasting relationships with people that were with us (me and my roommates and college buddies, Matt and his fellow soldiers.) 

Wow, what a time.  Our lives didn't settle down after that, though.  I'm hoping the next 5 years will be a little more mello.

Happy Homecoming, Matt!