I first found out I likely had a deployment tasking coming my way in February. I signed the tasking in May the week of my wedding. And now finally I am staring down my departure date in another week. It has been wonderful having a ton of notice and time to prepare, but the last couple months have also been filled with the anxiety I'm sure everyone feels before they deploy. Not unlike the anxiety I have felt before beginning anything else new (going to college, law school, starting new jobs) -- just amplified by the potential gravity of what I could face.
This is my second attempt at blogging. My first was when I was training for an Ironman in 2009-2010 and I was so exhausted by my job and training that I only managed about half a dozen posts over the course of a year. While deployment will no doubt be far more taxing mentally, I will try to make more of an effort this time to keep this as updated as possible.
