This "Ryan's Experience" was published Sunday May, 29, 2005, in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Soldiers' Trips Home are Worth the Effort

By: Ryan Seals Tennessee National Guard

EDITORS’ NOTE: Ryan Seals is with the 278th Regimental Combat Team’s 190th Engineer Company. The Times Free Press runs an occasional column from Spc. Seals.

R and R — two little letters that mean so much for deployed soldiers and their families.

A glimpse of light in the otherwise dark cloud of being deployed overseas, the Rest and Recuperation program allows soldiers a chance to get away from combat stresses and take a two-week vacation — in my case for my wedding in April.

I cannot go into detail about how we get from Iraq to points beyond because of operations security. However, I can say that traveling out of a base in Iraq usually goes rather quickly but requires several steps. The process includes travel to a base in Iraq that has capabilities to fly soldiers to Kuwait aboard military aircraft. In Kuwait, there is another paperwork session during which soldiers will receive round-trip airplane tickets from Atlanta or Dallas to the closest major airport to home. We also are required to wear our desert-camouflaged uniforms for the duration of our travel to and from our destination.

Once leaving Kuwait on a military chartered flight, soldiers receive about 15 days of leave time, which begins the midnight after they land in the United States.

Most soldiers usually take anywhere from two to six days to get home after they leave the base where they are stationed. In my case, I left my unit on April 3 and was home hugging my family on the morning of April 5, not counting the eight-hour time lapse and the near 18-hour flight home.

Some advice I can give to anyone planning for his or her soldier's return home on leave is to be patient and flexible. In my case, I was told several times an estimated day I would be leaving, just to be told something completely different the next day.

When the soldier does get home, try not to overload him or her with lots of things that need to be done. It takes about three days to recover from jet lag, so let him or her relax and spend leave as he or she sees fit.

Going home on R and R was a true blessing for me because I got married April 8. However, I would not suggest anything major like that for anyone else going on leave because of all of the uncertainties that factor in. I wasn't sure if I would even make it to the altar in time until about four days before the wedding, so the chaos was abundant.

My best piece of advice is just make the most out of the precious days you have with your soldier. Hopefully, it will be the last in the series of goodbye's either of you will have to make before he or she is home for good.

E-mail Ryan Seals at news@timesfreepress.com

From: Chattanooga Times Free Press Link

1. Unexpected Deployment to Iraq was 'Like a Punch in the Gut'

2. Training Life Brings Change, Challenge Link

3. Training Simulates Iraq Combat Link

4. Four Months of Training Lead to Iraq Deployment - Nov. 28, 2004

5. Iraq’s Young are Reason for Being Here - Dec. 26, 2004

6. One month closer to going home - Jan. 24, 2005

7. A Little Hello Goes a Long Way - Feb. 25, 2005

8. Return to "Ryan's Experience" Page Link