Welcome Home, Hero

Welcome Home, Hero          

“Rhiannon!” A blur hurtles itself towards me the instant I step off the plane and attaches itself to my leg. I jump back, but then relax and smile down at Jamie, my three year old nephew. “Daddy and grandpa and grandma said you got to shoot guns and run through mud and learn to take down bad guys, I can’t wait till I’m grown up so I can be just like you, will you teach me to shoot mean people, huh…!”

“Jamie!” My smile grows as I see my older brother Collin make his way through the crowd. “Had to get away from me to see your aunt, didn’t you?”

I rock on my feet, biting my lip. Seven weeks of basic training have somewhat dulled my heightened senses, but I can still be uncomfortable in crowded, noisy situations. I’ve already started to notice a remarkable improvement – not too long ago, I would have completely shut down in the middle of the airport. Or had a screaming meltdown. But here I was now, standing in the middle of the busy airport after successfully completing Air Force basic training!

I pick up Jamie and follow Collin through the airport. “Mom and Dad are at home setting up your party for tomorrow,” he tells me. “They can’t wait to see you! We’re going to try to keep the press away as well, but you know them…”

“We won’t be able to keep them away,” I told them. “Hate to brag, but I did, after all, sort of make history…oh shite. Speak of the divil.”

Sure enough two reporters are moving through the crowd toward me. “Airman Lynch!” one called.

“How’s it feel to be the first openly autistic person to enlist in the Armed Forces?”

“Did you need any accommodations?”

 “Did you ever feel like quitting?”

I feel my Irish temper bristle. Don’t these people know we don’t like to be mobbed? “I feel grand about everything…no, my drill sergeant hated everyone equally…yes, but I refused to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing it. To be a SERE specialist in the Air Force is what I have always wanted, and I worked and pushed myself for this opportunity. Thank you! Oh and by the way, not too long ago you would have been mobbing me asking me what it was like to be a woman in the military.” I smile at them and walk off. Collin is beside himself. I know that he wants to yell at me for setting a bad example for Jamie, but he’s also trying not to crack up.

We’re at the car. We get in and we’re on our way home. As we drive through the streets of Boston, I shake out my long, thick chestnut Gael mane and lean my head back against the seat and close my eyes. Airman Rhiannon Una Lynch. It still seems so unreal. I go back to remembering that day last winter, when the announcement came that the US armed forces had lifted the ban on autistics enlisting. My dream of being in the Air Force as a SERE specialist could finally become a reality. Was it easy for me? Not at all. Did I have to push and force myself to keep going? Absolutely. Would I let myself quit? Never. Not to mention that if I did, all the skeptics would have simply gone, “Told you so.” I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction. I wanted to pave the way for other young men and women like me. I wanted to be an inspiration.

We’re at the house. Collin pulls into the driveway and there are Mom and Dad. Just seeing them out the window with their shining faces said it all. Welcome home, hero.