David CookFirst Lt. Justin Hand, 27, is many miles away, stationed so secretively in a dusty corner of the world that even those closest to him refer to it only in the most generic of ways: the Middle East.
Yet he could be anywhere, and half his mind is always back home. His family. Friends. His grandmother, who just died.
He misses the big events and small ones. The Super Bowl. Seeing snowfall on Tennessee ground. Holding hands with his wife.
They got married in July, and he was deployed in November. They’ve been apart for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s.
And tomorrow.