Afghanistan – Glee, Delight, Jubilation: all these words could describe the mood as Private Joseph Albertson popped out of a giant present to surprise his platoon. He returned to duty at an army base in Afghanistan after spending the winter holiday with his family in Detroit, Michigan. “I’m just so glad he made it back safe and sound!” said Albertson’s Sergeant, Dale Cargill. “I mean, you see all those news stories about what goes on over there, and… well, we were just really worried about Joe.” The sergeant took a break from answering questions so he could join the ‘welcome back group-hug.’
Albertson claimed he was woken by the sound of gunfire in the street nearly every night during his vacation tour. “I just hid under my blanket and thought about the warm Afghani desert sun and all my friends. I just prayed to God that I would survive so I could see their smiling faces again,” recounted Albertson. “I’m really glad to be back here,” he said. “I’m surrounded by friends, and I’m much less worried about someone trying to break into my home and threaten my life.” Albertson went on to say that he knows he is probably going to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, but his ‘army buddies’ are an excellent support group. He is confident that they will get him through this difficult time.
After living through a traumatic event, many people often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Albertson is being closely monitored by military psychologists for PTSD. Nurses warn that the sound of the base being mortared by extremist groups could trigger some of his memories of time spent in the desolate, ‘third world-esque’ land that is Detroit.
“The saddest thing,” sergeant Cargill explained, “is when one of our own doesn’t survive their vacation tour. We lost a lot of good men vacationing in Chicago and St. Louis.” If Congress could just see what these soldiers are going through, maybe they would put their egos aside and start a few more wars to get more of our citizens overseas.
Perhaps the most important benefit of Albertson returning is that he has access to a run-down Afghani medical tent if he needs any medical treatment, which is substantially more desirable than dealing with the VA hospital system.
The Misinformer 
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