On Monday, July 15th, a very dear friend of 14+ years reported for his second tour of Iraq. He was there for almost 9 months when the war first kicked off in 2004. It was toward the end of his service period, and upon his return, his status change from active duty to inactive reserves. A year ago, he reenlisted for active reserves. A few months ago he got orders to return to Iraq. This time, it’s for a year.

I’m not sure I have the words to articulate our friendship, except that he is one of those very few people I call home. With his deployment, our normal methods of communicating are no more. The best means of keeping in touch is once again the old-school means: handwritten letters. He says he prefers them anyway… they help pass the time.

And because every good goal has constraints… I will write one letter every week that he is deployed. Length, subject and format do not matter, nor that I receive as many letters in return. What matters is that I write. And that I actually mail what I write, which oddly enough, tends to be the less likely of the two.