and my husband was not on it. It all seems a little surreal really. Keith was cleared to go...he had papers in hand that were stamped "cleared to deploy". He headed over to the med clinic to pick up Maleria pills that he'd forgotten and when the pharmacist pulled up his file there was a flag on it. His file was flagged because of a medication he takes for blood pressure. They told him they'd have to submit a waiver for him to deploy with that medication and told him it'd be back in the morning. When he went to get the waiver it came back DENIED. But not because of his blood pressure medication....it was his back. Most of Keith's friends know he's suffered from a back injury for about 8 years not and it was the elephant in the room that no one in his unit wanted to talk about because they needed him in Afghanistan. We were worried and we thought for a couple of days they would force him to medically retire due to his non-deployable status. I don't think the Army would let him off that easy....seems Keith is non-deployable to Afghanistan, but he is still deployable to other places in the world. Needless to say we were excited to hear he didn't have to go, but Keith had to battle with the emotional demons that told him he should be there with his men....for a soldier I don't think those ever go away. I too felt a little guilty at rejoicing that he didn't have to go when so many men did. But we would soon discover what God and the Army had in store for Keith.
Five days after finding out he was staying state side, Keith was chosen to take over the rear detachment company and will serve as First Sergeant for the year. I had forgotten how big of a responsibility that really was....Keith hadn't had a first sergeant in 7 years. Being responsible for 180 soldiers and the families of those that are overseas serving has turned out to be a huge job, but one Keith is absolutely up for. He has worked long hours, sat at the side of a spouse whose husband was dying, delivered news to children of Charlie Simmons that their dad was very sick, he remembered to deliver that coin to Charlie's son and a saber necklace to his daughter, he's helped a young soldier of 19 who didn't quite know where to turn, helped a soldier that had been written off as no good. I don't know what kind of difference Keith would have made over in Afghanistan....I'm sure it would have been immense. Here at Fort Hood, he's making a difference and we're only 2 months in. I'm anxious to see how this year will go while he serves in this capacity. As he would say, he's busier than a one armed paper hanger with an itchy nose. I am so very proud of him.
I wish you could have seen Jaeden's face when Keith told him he didn't have to leave. He had a pretty rough year...that ended great. But I was worried with Dad gone, he might have another rough start to the school year. I don't know why God chose to leave Keith with us, but we're not asking questions.....we intend to make this year COUNT!!!
