WHY "FAMILY" JUST MIGHT MEAN SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO A SOLDIER

"The time spent here definitely gave me a greater appreciation of the creature comforts that I had taken for granted," Finkey said. "From the most mundane comforts, such as porcelain toilets and take-out food to the greater comforts, such as the intimacy I share with my wife."

Bittner agreed. "What hit me hard was the realization that I know some of my friends in the company as well as or better than my own wife because I've been deployed 22 of the past 25 months," he said.