Freedom and Captivity

In October of 2003, I headed to Germany to go active duty for the Army. I was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany for a month before I got sent to Iraq for "The War on Terror". I was 20 yrs. old when i got to Germany and drinking was legal there. So were many other things. But, drinking really appealed to me for the simple reason that it was forbidden in my own country (at my age). So, I drank to my heart's content and I cared for no one except for myself. Now, I made "friends" so to speak... but just because they had a glimmer of loyalty didn't make them friends. Aquaintances more like it... Now the drinking continued and so did other lusts of the flesh. But deep down I felt the spirit of the Lord tugging at my soul... so I just drank more 'till it shut up. Now I don't have an addictive personality per-say. So, I don't want to you to assume that I was an alcoholic, but I was a binge drinker... or more like a "binge lifer" (I did everything in excess and alot at once).
My life was in a spiral of depression, alcohol and sex for that one month before I went to Iraq...
In Iraq I learned how to shield my heart as well as my body. I learned that I could use similar tactics to get one girl as well as the next. I abused that knowledge and found myself using people only to get what I needed.
When I got back to Germany, Christmas Eve 2004, I was like a lion held in captivity... and just got let free in to the wild. I was reckless and unafraid. No one could touch me. I felt invincible. But I wasn't... I soon got my girlfriend (at the time) pregnant, and before I knew it she was in labor with my son Kalyb Isaiah. On August 4, 2006 my son was born. And he changed the way I looked at life from then on.