My brother is within 10 days of returning from his tour of duty in Afghanistan. One of the things that he discovered between doing more exciting things was a small group of dedicated fly fishermen, mostly from Maine, who decompress by tying flies in their off duty time. According to my brother, there's not much opportunity to actually use the results of their labor as there are only two identifiable bodies of water where he is. One is the miserable puddle of water that they use to convert into drinkable water and the other is the "poo" pond whose appellation perfectly describes its use.

These troopers are from the 286th Combat Sustainment and Support Battalion and they are tying a freshwater version of the lefties deceiver with sparser structure to mimic a smelt. They were happy to offer up the advice that the best presentation for this fly is to dead drift it on a slack leader perpendicular to the river current. By doing that, it looks like a wounded smelt and landlocked salmon and brook trout will fight each other to get to it.

My brother told me that their favorite waters are the West Branch of the Penobscot River, Moose River,  Dead River, and the Kennebec River.

I asked if they needed anything and was told that they have plenty of supplies right now and that the best thing to offer up are prayers for a safe return. With my brother about to come home, my thoughts are with these guys and I wish them the best.