Whenever I used to tell people that Joe volunteered to do this they were like I can't believe this that he volunteered and you let
Him volunteer to go over there and
My response is this is you know, he's in the military. This is a part of his job
This is what he wanted to do and I will support him. I really tried to say well, this is what you want and
Buzz had a little bit different
He tried a little harder to persuade him not to do it. I thought of Ms. Graves as hell
Here's a married man with two children
Volunteering to go to the most dangerous place in the world. Thank you. No
well
But that's Joe
My name is Joe cashin and I am the non-commissioned officer in charge of an eight-person public affairs attachment in Columbia
where we
Document in writing photography video videography what our soldiers do
the mission I'm going on is the
continuing
Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan be stationed at Kandahar airfield. I will be writing and taking pictures and
assisting with layout and
Design of a newsletter for about a 300 person task force
Why did I volunteer? It's something that I've thought about for a couple of years. It wasn't a
It wasn't made in a vacuum. You know, I've been in this 10 years
Almost 11 and I've not been to the either Iraq or Afghanistan. It almost felt like a void
You know in my career
That I needed to go
And it was a good career move too because it's it's good to have that deployment experience
On your resume and it's good to have that to where you can impart to other soldiers
Meet, you know, the younger people who haven't been you can pass on your experiences experiences to them
You know Lenny and I talked about it
I told her I said if the opportunity ever presents itself and that's how I looked at it as an opportunity
The opportunity ever presents itself. I want to go and I want to do this and she was you know fully supportive of that
parents were a little different
You know in their reaction my dad doesn't doesn't understand why I'd want to do it
Mom's a little more understanding. They support me
No matter what but it was a little different from them
They didn't quite get why I'd want to go there and in the middle of all that
It is what it is
I thought that it wouldn't happen because when he first told us about it
He said now it may not happen because there was some fellow who they were trying to get in touch with and so
I just kept pushing that to the back of my mind like okay, this is not gonna happen
But after a while I realized it was gonna happen
I'm sure he had some you know conflicting emotions about it
but
But I understood why he wanted to because he felt like
He was in classes with a lot of people who had been either in Iraq or Afghanistan and Lindy was so supportive
I'm still mad at him
I understand why he did it. I don't agree with it, but I understand why they did why he did it and
I'm not gonna let that bother me. You know, I just want him back
when
Joe is in Bosnia in 01
I'll live with my parents because our house was on the market and I I can't tell you the
admiration I have for Lindy to be able to
do what she
Does and do what she did when I was gone. Well, I've been gone twice
The horse you didn't draw on this window seal
Sarah's doing pretty good. She has her moments. Sarah's always been close to Joe
She breaks down every now and then supposedly I sometimes don't listen to her and she gets all mad and yells at me
And but I don't yell back
But sometimes I do when I'm really mad and I roll my eyes
Love to watch Emily a lot more my mom my mom cuts grass could usually my dad cuts grass and she watches her
I've had to do a little bit more like vacuuming and stuff take out the trash a lot more
I've had to clean up more. I've got to take more responsibility and stuff. I don't like doing chores. I
Missed him a lot. It's getting way easier now like that. We got used to him not being here
It was hard the first week that he wasn't here and they got easier
by the weeks that were by I
See a lot of her and me or
Me and her
The other way around I see a lot of the things that I used to do just kind of bounce around from one thing to the next and
It's kind of hard to keep focused
Sometimes especially especially in the in the subject of math
That was extremely difficult for me and it still is
She has problems with that too and I see a lot of that
I see a lot of what she struggles with it reminds me of how I struggled with it
If she's if she doesn't get something right away if she doesn't really quite understand it
It's really hard for her to keep focused
You got the bottom do the top
Okay, well, let me do the top
Okay, but I just wanted to go over them open open
Emily with her age with her being only three now. I think she's she understands that he's not here
She misses him. I don't think she quite understands, you know, what I was going on
But she's doing pretty good. I mean, she'll just come around every now and then and say I miss daddy
No, he went to Saudi Arabia this past time before that where was daddy at
Afghanistan that's right. What does daddy do with you?
I don't know. Does he play with you? Does daddy do a lot with you when he's at home?
Does he let you go outside and play?
Does he let you ride your bike?
What else does he do? Does he aggravate you? He does
He makes you mad. He makes you mad. Did you miss daddy? Did you feel sad because he was gone?
Yes, ma'am. I
Talked to Joe
Usually about three or four times during the week on the phone
I think that you know, he's with him being gone. That's still he needs to know everything that's going on
He knows that Emily has been very trying
He knows about volleyball
He knows
Everything that's really going on. We try whenever we talk during the week. We try to kind of update on what's been going on
I think it's important just so he can still feel a part of what's going on to a certain point
Sarah
You can't tell daddy about
We're gonna go Joe. We love you. Love you boy
When when Emily ran up to me in the airport, I thought wow, she has gotten bigger and I wouldn't go that long
I mean, it was only about six months. I was away from the house. I was excited
I was really wanting to see I had, you know, he had talked about how much weight he had lost and all that
So I was excited to kind of just see how he looked
Kind of excited to
Like I said to get to see what it how Emily would react
Especially with her being three, we would Skype the whole you know every week. She would see him
But would she how would she really react and I knew how Sarah would react, you know, like I said
She's always been a daddy's girl. I think it makes him a
Little bit of a stronger person. I told him I said, you don't know how proud I am of you each morning
That you get up and you have on that military uniform. I am very proud of you for what you've done
You have on that military uniform. I am very proud of you for what you do and for the service that you give to our country and all that
So, yeah, I think it's worth it
Well, I came back in one piece I could say that I mean, that's about as practical as I could I can say it
I mean, you know, I
Trusted in the lore that he would get me there and back and you know, he'd watch out for lending the kids and
You know, that's what he did. So I
Think it was very much worth it. I
Think it just draws us closer each time. We're thankful that he returns home safely and we're able to get back as a family
Like I said, one thing about Joe is he's a huge family man
It's real good with both the girls and with me, too. I mean Joe's a very loving person. He loves to
Hug and all the time and I noticed that since he's returned. It's even more since he's returned
wanting to hug and
Just hold on to you
thankful because we are lucky that
You know, we don't have any issues with post-traumatic stress disorder. We don't have any injuries from
Being over there. So we're just kind of lucky. I
Believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in our Lord and Savior
So it's you know, my faith is important to me and Lindy and I we pray just about every day
for many different things and many different people and
We want to show our children that it's important to do those things
Because we both believe and we're both pretty strong and in our faith and in our church
Our faith plays a big role
While Joe was gone. We had our church family that constantly
Kept us in prayers lifting Joe up lifting me and the girls up
Without that, I don't know what we would do because you really can feel the presence of the prayers that they constantly lift up
It was a difficult place. That is them. That is a primitive primitive land that country. It is it's broken. It's war torn
It's just I mean without without being there. It's really difficult to describe quite frankly. It's hot
It's where I was it was dusty
Conditions that I've never seen before
We here are extremely fortunate
To be in to you know to live in this to live in this country to be honest with you
I mean, it's just it's a place that if you don't go and visit
It's really it's really difficult to put into words the the challenges
That that the Afghan people face on a daily basis there. It's it's something else
There are a whole lot of emotions and thoughts
On that six-hour bus ride from Mississippi to Atlanta. I just I didn't you know
I was like, what am I doing?
What do I mean really? I see I was really the only time I thought about that and that was a low point for me
And I thought I called her I still had a phone, you know, I still had phone use then I was just like
I'm about
Yeah, I have just a total wreck right now, you know, that was that was certainly a low
but you know once I got over there and got into a routine it was it was okay, but I
I was dealing with the people that I dealt with that I worked with because everybody was a pretty tight-knit group and
Being able to do my job, you know being able to report on stories that we were doing there
To help the Afghan people to help each other that was that was a high with Joe's deployed again. I
Know that I can do it. Is it hard? Yes
But I think you learn how to adapt and you have to move on and you have to learn to you know
A new schedule and it might not be a schedule that you want that you have to learn from it and go on
I did not want to look back one day
You know Lord willing I live long enough. I did not want to look back one day and say, you know
I never did really go over there to experience that what many many people have experienced
And I know that may sound
You know some people may not be able to understand that but I mean if you wear the uniform long enough
And you see people doing what they're doing. I did not want to get to a point in my life and
You know look back and say I wish I had done that. I wish I'd given that a shot. I wish I had done my part
That is a really good question first thought I'd say yes
I
Deeper thought I don't know I
Don't know
When I when I left I thought that's what I wanted out of it as the time has gone on
Maybe not so much. Maybe if I get another chance, I would go again
perhaps
Parents would kill me. I
Said I was gonna do that again. I
Don't know if I found what it really was that I was looking for you know, I think so I want to say so
Did I really get out of that what I wanted?
I wanted the experience of being there. I wanted to have the ability to say you know
I've been to I've been in I've been to a combat zone. I get to wear that patch on
On the right shoulder now, you know that that I didn't didn't have before this but
You know what what was that what I got out of it, I mean, yeah, I got those things out of it, but you know
Is there more?
