[This is actually part 2 of this story. You can read part 1 here.]

Eric made it home – just a little before 7am this morning.

Yep – 7am.

Just long enough to shower, shave, change uniforms & slam down some breakfast before having to go back.

(They were only released to “their place of residence”. That’s the thing about formations, you’re not released until they say you’re released.)

They kept the guys searching till 4am this morning until they finally allowed them to stop & sleep on the hanger floor – no sleeping bags, no pillows, just the cold, hard concrete.

And yep – he’s going back.

(After a quick 20 minute power-nap.)

This time the formation is at 9am & everyone in the battalion, almost 800 soldiers, (not just his company which is over 350) will be there…in the rain…

…all still searching for that ever-elusive piece of sensitive equipment*.

They’ve checked the hanger; they’ve checked the weapons lock-up.

They’ve checked other buildings.

They even checked the roadsides to see if it just “fell out of the back of a truck“….(yeah, right).

Then they checked every soldier’s barracks room…

which then led to a debate over whether or not they had the legal authority to check every off-post soldier’s residence.

(They don’t.)

Although I wouldn’t care if it meant Eric could finally be released for the weekend…ok, that & if they’d promise not to ransack the place.

But I’d get a kick out of telling them they better be careful or my dog will eat you.

“What?!…Strange men are coming to check the house?!!!!..You don’t think they’ll take my pig ears, do you?”

No, Moo-Moo…your pig ears are safe & sound.

I just wish Daddy was, too.

[You can read part 3 here.]

*If you were lucky enough to catch this post when it first went up, then you know what exactly went missing. But things have now progressed. It’s no longer considered just a lost item, it’s now a criminal investigation. So I have to remove all reference to it.