Postcards from Deployment Part 6 - Stress
One of the reasons we went with the ‘Postcards from deployment…’ feature a couple of years ago was to bring an unvarnished look at deployments from a sailor’s POV that doesn’t always make it to the light of day, except in rare fora like the “Carrier” series late last year. Charles touches on something everyone of us who have walked up the brow or launched to the ship on Day 1 of a major deployment have faced. I well recall on my first deployment receiving a telegram (yes, yes, this was pre-internet days), barely 6 weeks into what would turn out to be a 9+ month deployment, that started with “Your Mom’s OK and will be out of the hospital in a week or so. Now, about your car…” The feeling of utter helplessness, that decisions you would normally be making are now in the hands of someone else can be, well, stressful. Beyond that too are the signature life-milestones — births, first steps, first day at school, holidays and anniversaries and deaths