Meeting a Soldier

So I met a soldier today that is on medical leave because he has fragments of something in his leg. He's stationed in Afghanistan for this tour and he wasn't supposed to be back home until New Years. He was telling us that he's been to Germany, Afghanistan, and Iran and that this is his first time home for Christmas in two years. No one knows that he's back and he's taken multiple military planes before taking a civilian plane, multiple busses, and is now riding a bus to Ellenville to surprise his five year old son and thirteen year old girl. He has bags full of gifts for them and everything. Then he told us that some of guys still serving with PTSD are self medicating and that's why some of them aren't coming home alive (Not all of them, but some) and that they eat a lot of goat over there. He even got bitten on the ass by a goat. I've never loved meeting a stranger on the bus more than I did today. Mad respect for that man and his ex-wife, ex-wife's boyfriend, and his kids.