KAF at 2100 - Friday
My nephew, Leyton Summerlin, said his goodbyes last night, as he and his unit were deploying north early this morning. We enjoyed our time together so much yesterday! We met at the USO Lounge, walked to the Boardwalk, shopped, ate dinner together, hung out in his troop tent, met his battle buddies, met some of my battle buddies, were interviewed together for a news story on our crossing paths in Afghanistan, and the list of excitement goes on ad infinitum in terms of meeting him - of all places, over here!
I slept in a few minutes here, washed up, dressed, and went to the nearby DFAC for a little British breakfast. I had minor out-processing tasks to complete, and did, and later shopped a little on the Boardwalk again, and went back to the USO Lounge to record yet another video of me reading a book to my son, Kaesen. I had not expected Leyton, my nephew, to show back up, as he left early this morning to forward-deploy to his FOB, near FOB Smart at FOB Apache. Well, he in fact did show his handsome face again around 1500! I was elated - and we spent the evening together again. Talk about good fortune for me and Leyton.
We ate dinner at the British DFAC, known as Cambridge DFAC, and went back to his troop tent so he could clean a spare M-16, yes they still have these in-use - as spare weapons. Afterward we came back to my compound, made a cafe mocha, and surfed our Facebook accounts for about an hour. I asked Leyton to ask his leadership to allow him to come to my awards ceremony tomorrow around lunch. I hope he can come; it would be fitting to share a ceremony with him and it would be a capstone for what I, along with my military and civilian brothers and sisters, have endured in the last year.
I fly out of here in less than two days now. Come Sunday at 1430 I will be on a commercial flight headed for Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Talk about excited - I am that and so much more.
143, Kaesen.
Good night and good day.
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| Leyton & Leyton; two generations of Summerlin boys - in Afghanistan on 19 Apr 2012 |
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