CAI-NJ March 2017

out. In temperatures that average 135 degrees, anything cool is better than gold. And when the ice machines go down, and drinking water is rationed, and you haven’t slept or showered for a few days morale is low. It takes some- one of mental strength to deliberately search for something they can hold onto to get them through the months at sea between liberties. Wil did this. To occupy his mind, he took every qual- ification he could and ended up with more than most with his rank. He also took some college classes when they flew instructors onto the ship. To escape, he would call or write home. And when communications were shut down due to operations, he wrote in a notebook to exercise that world out of his head. Wil found coping mechanisms not just to get him through the stressful and challenging times but to make him- self emotionally and psychologically stronger. He now takes responsibility when things don’t work out as he wanted. Gone are the excuses and in their stead are possible solutions. Equally, gone is the boy and in his stead is a man any would be proud to call son. His senior chiefs must also have noticed the maturity in Wil for not only did they charge him with training during deployment he was flown home as one of 250 excellent seamen out of over 5,000. He took a military plane, a train, and a bus to get home totaling 39 hours of travel without sleep. His homecoming was a surprise I will never forget and for which I will always be grateful. But it wasn’t until he had been home for five days and I heard him laugh for the first time since he’d been home that I knew my son was back. n

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