Enough

One of the civilians I've met is a retired Special Forces Medic. He served over thirty years in uniform and continues to serve today.

He is a very soft-spoken guy, but can be very talkative. He'll stop by my desk and we'll chat about running shoes, random war stories, getting old, dirt medicine tips, etc.

He's going home. One of his family member's is sick. He called the company he works for and told them he has to quit the contract early. For so many years, he put the mission and country ahead of everything.

It is his family's turn.

Fortunately, many of the people he works for are retired military guys who know exactly how he feels. They are willing to hold his space for a few months in case he can come back later.

I also found out that The Spin Doctors are playing Balad. Well, not the Spin Doctors, but their lead singer and his new band.

I was never a Spin Doctors fan in the early 90's. But it's free, I've never been to a USO show, and there's something novel about seeing some band that was big when I was in middle school.

It was fun. They played in the movie theater. It had a small club feeling similar to some of the shows one of my friends took me to back home.

The band gave out CDs and signed autographs for anyone who wanted one after the show. We got our picture taken with the band cause why not?

It was great of them to come out here. Even though most of the audience was barely walking when the band, or at least the lead singer, first hit it big, every one was appreciative and got in to it.

And yes, when I did the math and realized that most of the audience was still in diapers when the Spin Doctors hit MTV (back when MTV played music, I know, wow), I felt old.