As a first-tour pilot I deployed multiple times but never for more than six months straight. I left home each time with trepidation, but I was motivated and excited to go. I believed my country had called me to do my duty. At the end of each deployment I was proud of what I had accomplished, but was more than glad for it to be over. The excitement to complete the mission had been replaced with a new excitement to return home and see my family. My motivation to fulfill my patriotic duty was far less at the end of deployment than where it had been a few short months earlier. Moreover, that motivation seemed to wane more and more with each subsequent deployment. By the end of my first tour I was much in need of a shore-duty break.
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