By Vincent Brent Davis II
It’s been about a week since I packed my bags and left Fort Bragg for home.
It’s been a whirlwind getting home- I feel like there’s been so much to do, and yet my days feel kind of empty compared to military life. It’s been hard adjusting. People always ask how it’s been since I got home, expecting the easy response that I’m happy and thriving on sleeping in and hanging out with loved ones, but in truth I think there is a large part of me that isn’t home yet.
There is a big part of me still out there in the field, freezing in my foxhole talking about home with Bynum, or pulling guard duty with Clark. There is a part of me still scheming up ideas for barracks mischief with Bassat, Lancaster and Columbia, or staying up after lights out with Gilreath and Leitzke to read God’s word and to pray our thanks that we made it through one more day.
A part of me is still trying to remember the words to meanwhile back at mama’s on one of our long rucks, trying to focus on something happy and not let the long road ahead of me consume my thoughts.
There is a part of me still crying with my battle buddy when he found out his brother had been killed in Buffalo, NY, or when another’s girlfriend decided it wasn’t worth waiting around. All the laughs and all the tears, the 0400 wake ups and the 2100 lights out, the formations and accountability… haha all in all it’s been harder adjusting to home life than it was when I joined in January.
I think this just goes to show that I’ve been blessed with great cadre to instruct me, and that I’ve trained amongst great soldiers. I wouldn’t change any of it. When my mind meets me here in Johnson City, I’m sure I’ll be very glad to be here, but for now I’m still reliving all the memories and trying to make sense of it all. Regardless, I am so proud and honored to be serving this country.
Vincent B. Davis II writes historical fiction books to keep the past alive through the power of storytelling. He is also an entrepreneur, speaker, and veteran who is a proud graduate of East Tennessee State University and was honorably discharged from the US Army in 2022. Armed with a pen and an entrepreneurial spirit, Vincent quit his day job and decided it was as good a time as any to follow his dream. He went on to publish six historical fiction novels, four of which have now become Amazon International Best Sellers.
Vincent is also a devoted and depressed Carolina Panthers fan and a proud pet parent to his rescue pups, Buddy and Jenny. Join Vincent in celebrating the past through the pages of his books.
Click here for Vincent’s Author Page.
Vincent, what a nice post! You’re an extremely talented writer. Wishing you the very best life has to offer –
We all live different lives, but my experience of coming home was profoundly different from Vincent’s. I had two strong and conflicting feelings when I stepped off the bus on a rainy April afternoon In 1965 Seattle.
The first can best be described as a combination of fear and solitude. My girl had dumped me. My high school friends had scattered to the horizon. I had no skills to offer a prospective employer and three hundred dollars in my wallet. I could count on my parents for a roof against the spring rain, but I was no longer the boy who left home four years ago.
My second feeling was a mad elation. All the strings had been severed. All debts paid. My sky was pure blue. I was young and strong, and free. I was starting out in America. The future was mine to make.
Transitions and new beginnings. The makings of exciting lives. Not pain free but still, opportunities. Well presented.
Thanks