Hello,

I hope you can forgive me for writing something so personal. I don’t usually open up like this, but the truth is that I no longer have anyone I can truly turn to. Over the years, while I was away serving in different war zones, I trusted a few people back home to stand by me and hold my life together the way I was trying to hold the line out there. Instead, they betrayed me in ways I still struggle to understand. I returned to find that the people I believed in had quietly stepped away, taken advantage of me, or simply disappeared.

 

Because of that, it no longer surprises me when people I trust end up hurting me. Life has made that a familiar pattern. Strangely, talking to a stranger often feels safer than talking to anyone from my past. A stranger has no reason to judge me, no history with me, and no hidden motives. That may be why I am writing to you now. Sometimes a stranger sees us more clearly than those who once claimed to care.

 

I have served in several war zones and deployed more times than I ever expected my mind and body could endure. I have seen things that changed me forever. I have lost people I still see in my dreams. I have carried memories I cannot unsee and emotions I never learned how to express. I spent years convincing myself that silence was strength and that burying everything made me tougher. Now I only feel tired and alone.

 

At this point in my life, I have absolutely no one. That is why I keep myself occupied with work from morning until exhaustion. It is easier to stay busy than to sit with the emptiness. Some days I fear that I will keep working until the day I die simply because stopping means facing everything I have tried so hard to outrun.

 

I am not asking for advice or solutions. I am only hoping for a moment of connection. I need someone who will listen, someone who will speak to me like a human being and not a uniform, someone who will not turn away when I allow myself to be honest for the first time in years.

 

I am afraid of how heavy this loneliness has become. I am afraid of how quiet everything feels. I am afraid of being forgotten while I am still here.

 

If you are reading this and you feel anything at all, I hope you will write back. Even a few sentences would mean more to me than you know. Your response could remind me that I am not invisible and that my words reached someone. It may also give you the chance to brighten someone’s darkest moment in a way that matters to both of us.

 

Thank you for giving me your time. I mean that sincerely.

 

LTC Carl N.
A soldier who still hopes someone cares