8
8
0
We've all, undoubtedly, said many goodbyes. What's your most memorable farewell?
Mine is the day I entered the Army. The recruiter came to our upstate NY home at something like 0600 to pick up my 17-year-old self and take me to the recruiting station, then on to the airport and basic training at Fort Polk, LA. After I said goodbye to my mother, my aunt (who lived down the road and was like a second mother to me) waved through her window as we drove by. And she never got up at such an early hour! That day was just over 39 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
What about you? What's your most memorable goodbye?
Mine is the day I entered the Army. The recruiter came to our upstate NY home at something like 0600 to pick up my 17-year-old self and take me to the recruiting station, then on to the airport and basic training at Fort Polk, LA. After I said goodbye to my mother, my aunt (who lived down the road and was like a second mother to me) waved through her window as we drove by. And she never got up at such an early hour! That day was just over 39 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
What about you? What's your most memorable goodbye?
Edited 11 y ago
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 16
2
2
0
My most memorable goodbye was not when I left for deployment to Afghanistan (though I remember that vividly as well), it was when I was going back after my R&R. I took R&R 8 months into my deployment and I had already been blown up twice at that point. I stress this, because I am in a non-combat MOS. We are not supposed to get blown up. Anyway, I knew when I left home to go back to Afghanistan that I still had more missions to accomplish once I got back and leaving after my R&R was way harder than I thought.
(2)
(0)
MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
I told my wife, as hard as it was, I was not going to take mid tour leave for that very reason. I don't think I could have left my family again to return.
(2)
(0)
1
1
0
Most memorable for me was September 2004, I was saying goodbye to my then girlfriend, now wife. Pittsburgh airport, headed back to the desert after r&r was over. It was raining very heavily, in fact, it was the remnants of a hurricane passing through. I had forgotten a knife that was left in my carry-on, and the tsa guy let my future wife take it back to the car. That was most memorable because it was the hardest. And it certainly wasn't the last one with her. I also remember that their was a full bird returning, I remember his wife crying. Lots of things happened like me not able to get a hold of her when I got to Kuwait, turns out Carnegie, where we lived at the time got flooded and power went out.
(1)
(0)
1
1
0
I have said goodbye so many times over the years it is crazy.
But the first time was when I was leaving for USMC boot camp and I was put on a bus in lake Charles,LA headed for MEPS in Houston. I still can see myself staring out the window as the bus drove away, my dad crying my mom waving and them disappearing in the distance, and me scared.
But the first time was when I was leaving for USMC boot camp and I was put on a bus in lake Charles,LA headed for MEPS in Houston. I still can see myself staring out the window as the bus drove away, my dad crying my mom waving and them disappearing in the distance, and me scared.
(1)
(0)
1
1
0
Kissing my babies goodbye at 0400 before heading to Iraq in early 2003. It was my fist deployment with them alive.
(1)
(0)
1
1
0
0
0
0
Mine was during a TDY to Goodfellow AFB. I never had a goodbye with anyone, my rule was just to leave. My wife and family always understood this. I did not do goodbyes. But, while at Goodfellow AFB we had a 3 day weekend and drove to Dallas to see my Grandfather (WWII vet), was old and a few health problems. He was in the hospital and the day I left to go back to base and back to Berlin, he stopped me and said he was dying, to go back to my unit, do my duty and not come home for his funeral. Was there when it counted and that was all he wanted. He died 2 months later, and the casket was carried by 7, with a gap that represented my spot.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google