under-fire

After 6 months, "Ben" has finally returned home. So now that he is safe, I can introduce you to Warrant Officer Mark Atkins...the man behind the blog.

Losing Duncan was enough to make any week miserable. But when you compound it with the last few days...it gets even worse.

Mark and I have been getting our home ready for sale. But we're getting on each other's nerves and things are getting a bit tense during moving prep.

I didn't anticipate Mark's return to be easy as pie. I knew there would be adjustments as we trudled along through the holidays but reality is setting in as we return to our routines. I did not get back the man I sent to Afghanistan 8 months ago.

I'm often asked the reason behind a military salute. Sometimes it's because of the commission, sometimes it's out of respect, and sometimes, it's because of death.