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Most people don’t deal too well with that. Chris certainly wasn’t one of the exceptions. I knew taking care of our son was all going to be on me for the next several months while he was away. More importantly, I knew that all the newness and magic was also going to be with me. I was nervous about how I would handle it, and sad that all the memories of our beautiful son would be mine alone as opposed to shared memories we could look back on together. At the same time, I was angry he was leaving and terrified he wouldn’t make it back. I also loved him like crazy. NAV SCHOOL
Besides sniper school, I had been “volunteered” for nav school by my chief. I went reluctantly. Navigating is an important skill in combat—without a navigator, you don’t know how to get to the battle, let alone how to get away when you’re done. In a DA (direct action) scenario, the navigator figures out the best way to the target, comes up with alternatives, and guides the fire team to safety when you’re done. The problem is, SEAL navigators often don’t get a chance to actually fight in the DA they navigate to. The way we set things up, the navigator is usually assigned to stay in the vehicle while the rest of the unit breaks into the house or whatever. That’s so he can be ready in case we need to get out fast. Sitting in the passenger seat plugging numbers into a computer was not exactly where I wanted to be. But my chief wanted someone