These past three months that I’ve been home since my discharge have been a treasure.  My sons have grown so much since I first arrived to the USS Santa Fe in 2004 and I missed all of it.  I have very few years left with them before they go off to make their own way in this world and let me say, I don’t intend to miss another second.  This first Christmas back home and out of the Navy was a very Merry Christmas indeed and it’s the first of many that I plan to spend with my family over the course of the rest of my life.

My new life as a civilian (I STILL can’t believe it!) has given me more than a chance to reconnect with my family though.  It has given me perspective.  We've all, no doubt, have heard the adage that, "freedom isn't free".  One thing that I dig about prideme is that for us, it isn't just another saying pasted to a random bumber on our way to the grocery store.  All of us have either served, are still serving, or are married to or directly related to one of the two former.  In the more unfortunate of circumstances, most of us probably have served or know someone who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms.  Yes, my hypothetical friends, we are all intimately familiar with the costs of freedom.

However, thanks to the technological marvels of the 21st century, the end of my enlistment has not necessarily meant that my emotional involvment is now limited to the memories I conjure up when I see a young service member walking with his significant other in uniform at the mall.  The internet has truly connected mankind this past decade in a way as never before.  You see, not only have I managed to reconnect with old acquaintances from my misbegotten youth, but I’ve also been able to stay connected to my old shipmates.

While I’ve doffed my submarinning spurs in search of other roads to travel, they’re still out there.  They’re still standing the watch.  They’re the ones that let me take my sons to school, my wife on a date, finish college and celebrate every holiday from New Years to Arbor Day to Christmas in the peace and freedom known only to Americans.  For the first time my heart is bursting with love and gratitude for the sacrifices these men and women are making in the name of the preservation of the way of life we all enjoy.

My old boat returned from a six-month deployment in mid-November and my old friends and shipmates are now in the tail end of a very well deserved leave period.  I read their postings on Facebook as they make their individual ways back to Pearl Harbor and I can’t help but feel a heaviness in my heart for them.  They’re returning back to a life that is hard beyond imagination and where, more often than not, the work itself is its own reward.  A life of long hours, little sleep and isolation from the world at large.  A hard and humble life that now makes mine possible. 

 God bless you guys.  Where ever you are, where ever you’re going, I’ll be thinking about you and praying for your safe return home.

You are my heroes.