For better or for worse

As I exited the chow hall tonight carrying my foil covered chicken breast and broccoli, a soldier said hello. I’ve gotten to know this soldier fairly well on the deployment, and I asked him how things have been going.

“I was on emergency leave” he solemnly informed me. Emergency leave is granted when the soldier has a serious problem back home; a death in the family, a life threatening situation, or some emergency that requires the soldier’s presence. I have worked several emergency leave cases, and usually it’s a matter of the commander trying to decide if the request meets the criteria required by the regulation.

Death = approved. New baby = maybe. Post partum depression = doubtful. It’s almost always bad news. The run of the mill new baby doesn’t rate emergency leave; the ones that almost kill mom leaving her a basket case incapable of caring for the other kids, and no other family is around, can justify the leave.

I said “Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good. What happened?” As I’ve written, I think people don’t bring this stuff up unless they want you to ask about it.

“My wife burnt down the house and blew up my pickup” he replied, calmly. Immediately I thought “Man, this guy is going through a REALLY nasty divorce.” He added “And she got pregnant.” Of course, I thought that not only was she really mad at him, she was sleeping with some other guy. Even though the person might want to talk about it, you still have to be sensitive. You can’t just say “Jeezus. What a b*tch.” You never know.

I said “Well, I hope you were there when she got pregnant.” “Oh yeah” he said. I thought, this guy’s soon-to-be-ex torched his house and bombed his truck, and he gets her pregnant? “What were you thinking?” I blurted, shocked. He showed me a new wedding ring he was sporting, a beautiful Titanium and Platinum ring, three bands in one ring, grayish, lighter in the middle third. “Feel it” he offered, and handed me the ring. I hefted it and handed it back, by now really confused.

Turns out that on the Fourth of July, his wife left the garage door open. Some kids threw fireworks in the garage and got things going. A propane bottle exploded and took out his truck. The garage burned. The rest of the house was spared, but smoke damage pretty much ruined everything.

Good news; insurance will cover the damage. Bad news; with the new baby, they now need a minivan. Goodbye to the pickup days.