Page 38 of Be With Me
Chapter 19
Debbie wasn’t sure how to help her husband. He’d been having nightmares on and off since he got back from the deployment. He never remembered in the morning or if he did, he was a champion at avoidance and she was sure that wasn’t the case.
Finally, she broke down, grabbed the home phone and called Mackey. She’d seen him and Danny once or twice during the deployment and Luny had made sure she had their numbers in case of an emergency. Why she’d call them instead of her family, she wasn’t sure but it made him feel better.
“Hey Moon, what’s up?” Mackey asked as he answered his phone.
“Hi Jeff… uh Mackey, it’s Debbie,” she stammered out. Great, what a way to sound… not pathetic.
“Debbie, is everything okay? What do you need? Where’s Mooney?” Mackey threw out in quick succession.
Debbie blew out a breath; they would help her. No questions except what she needed them for, well, at least Mackey.
“So I’m not sure how to handle something and I thought maybe you could give me some ideas?” Debbie asked.
“Anything you need. Mooney would kick my ass if I didn’t help his bride and he would be in the total right. Now, do you want to talk over the phone or get some lunch?”
“Phone is okay. Wow, I didn’t think it would be hard to talk about this. I’ve had some training in PTSD, okay, it was just some basics but now… Mooney’s been having some nightmares and I’m not sure how to help him. Obviously, there’s something he needs to process but I don’t know how to even bring it up. What do I do? Let it go? Do I need to talk to someone? Does he need to tell someone?”
“Wheee, take on the hard things, Debbie. Hold on a second.” She heard him cover the phone and then there was mumbling. “Okay, I’m back. Sorry, just walked outside for some privacy. Now, let’s take your questions in order. What to do? There’s nothing really you can do, it’s something that each soldier has to figure out how to deal with on their own. Some talk to friends, some to a counselor. There aren’t a lot that talk about what goes on during deployments with their spouses from what I can tell. They try and keep it separated from the home front. Keep home all that’s good.”
“But I’m a nurse. I’m trained to help,” Debbie interjected. She shifted on the couch and looked around the living room. She’d moved the furniture around while Luny was deployed and he seemed to like it.
“I know you are and Mooney does to. I think it’s ingrained in the protection gene we all seem to have. I’m sure that you haven’t really told Mooney about the hard things you’ve seen at the hospital. Next question, should you talk to someone? Are you asking if there’s someone in the unit you need to talk to?”
“Yeah, that really wasn’t part of the family readiness discussions,” Debbie pointed out.
“No, there’s no one that you need to inform about Mooney’s nightmares. If it becomes a more serious problem, which I can’t see that ever being. Mooney loves you with his whole being and I can’t ever see him raising a hand to you.” Mackey sounded absolutely confident in his words and Debbie totally agreed. Luny would never hurt her.
“So he needs to tell someone?” Debbie persisted. There had to be something in place to help the soldiers deal with all that they saw and did.
“There’s nothing that says he needs to tell anyone if he’s having trouble dealing with what he saw over there. There are programs for drug abuse, alcohol abuse, eating disorders and how the military deals with domestic issues but nothing formal at this point about the mental distress that we bring back.”
“Well fuck,” Debbie said making Mackey break out in laughter. While he was enjoying a laugh on her, she thought something through. “You’ve been deployed right?”
“I have,” Mackey told her through the end of his chuckles.
“What about Kevin and Danny? And, what’s the Special Forces guy… Ghost?” Debbie hadn’t met him before Luny left but she thought that’s what he’d called him.
“That’s Spook and he’s deployed several times. I know that Danny and Kevin have too. Why?”
“Do you think you all would like to come to dinner on Thursday? Maybe I can disappear for a bit and let you all talk?” The more Debbie thought about it, the more she liked the idea. “Luny needs to talk to someone and why not you guys?”
“I know I’m free. Let me check with the others. Didn’t Mooney make friends with two guys while they were deployed?”
“He did. Let me think for a minute, I know he mentioned them several times. He emailed me a picture of them too. Brian and Mike and if I remember correctly, they’re not MPs. Does that make sense?” Debbie wasn’t totally sure on that part.
“Depending on their MOSs, they could’ve just been attached for the deployment. Do you know their last names? Maybe a rank?” Mackey suggested.
Debbie thought about it for a minute. “I know, Luny had their names in the email with the picture. Why?”
“It wouldn’t be bad to have them there if we start talking. Shared experiences and all. I’ll text you my email and you can forward the one from Mooney to me and I’ll see what I can do. What time should I tell them?” Debbie couldn’t believe at the speed Mackey stepped up to help her.
“How about seven? Any requests for dinner?” It was the least she could do if they were helping her and Luny out. Well, she hoped this helped and he didn’t get mad at her for talking to Mackey.
“Anything you make will be appreciated. Home cooking that you don’t have to make yourself or go through parental questioning for? Oh yeah, let me know and I’m there. I’m sure that the guys feel the same too,” Mackey said. “Okay, seven on Thursday. And Debbie? Don’t worry about this anymore. Mooney doesn’t need to know you said anything.”
“How’d you know I was a bit worried already?” Debbie hoped she didn’t sound desperate.
