Alan C. Mack

I was just so glad they got him.

Yeah.

And you know, that's the thing, you know, the families are back, you know, um,

There were nights where the weather was terrible and you couldn't fly, right?

And the ground force couldn't go out because there's no stack overhead.

You know, the supporting, you know, the fighters, the ISR, the drones, all that stuff can't fly in this horrible weather.

So what we're doing is we're all playing Call of Duty, right?

All the computers are linked together, playing Call of Duty or watching movies on the server and just kind of a downtime, right?

Like a notebook.

Yeah.

yep guys we're very we're very uh you know emotional sentimental sentimental is the right word but um oftentimes somebody will say hey guys do you realize right now our families think we are out getting the crap shot at us right now and they have no idea that it's not like that all the time you always think that people overseas that they're uh

Yes.

You know, it's terrible all the time.

Every second they're in harm's way.

You know, oftentimes it's unpleasant, you know, the heat, the cold, being away from your family, especially on holidays and, you know, birthdays and Christmas and stuff like that.

Well, you know, the interesting thing is in that 10 years of combat deployment, so I did 17 deployments by my count.

Right at the very beginning, I decided I was going to die doing what I was doing.

And so I just kept that mindset the whole way through.

Now that doesn't mean I wasn't scared, but I was often convinced that I just was not going to come home.

And so what I tried to do, and my kids both served, one's still in the Navy, is I tried to create experiences and memories when I was home.