As a soldier there are many travels
Subject to mission or tour
Living the place and experience
Sometimes you preferred war
A Field Training Exercise takes forever
Other operations necessary to train
Preparation made to project force
For an Army’s readiness to maintain
The military itself an obstacle
Even training involves time away
Thoughts of loved ones somewhere else
The soldier prepared come what may
Deployments like Groundhog Day
Though the chance to correct mistakes
Like with The Defence of Duffer’s Drift
No chance for redoing to make
I have yearned for loved ones while abroad
The desire to see them can’t compare
Remember how I felt at the reunion
Loving whose trust you share
Coming from Stuttgart “back to the world”
An elderly Black gentleman at an airport gate
Said, “Welcome home, Sergeant” and I knew
We shared a sacred trust from fate
JBentley-03Mar2023