I met a man last week who made me realize just how hard being a Soldier really is. I know that they face the hardship of a war zone but there is so much more to it than that. This Soldier has been at Fort Bragg for 15 years, is married, has 2 sons in high school and a 4 year old daughter. I don't know his life story, how long he has been in the Army or what his career has been like. I do know that right now, he is doing his residency at Womack Army Medical Center.
In the course of our brief conversation, he told me that he recently returned from a year of training in Texas. Now, for those of you who don't know, Fort Bragg is one of the biggest Army posts in the world. We call it the 'center of the Army's universe'. My objective in saying that is to point out that this place has a ridiculous amount of people and even more resources. Womack is recognized as one of the best Army hospitals around. Yet, even with all of these resources available right here at home, this Soldier still had to go all the way to Texas for a year.
In the glass-half-full perspective, you can say that he's not getting shot at, he can call when he wants, possibly come home on a weekend or his family go to him. There are good things about being State-side. However, this Soldier still missed an entire year with his family. He missed birthdays, Christmas, his wedding anniversary, his sons' football games, etc. There are so many precious moments that he will only remember through pictures.
Now, let me be clear, I am not comparing a year in the States to a year in Iraq or Afghanistan. In my opinion, Iraq or Afghanistan is much harder. When your Soldier is in the States, both of you can sleep well at night because you know he is safe. He has a bed, a pillow, hot food, and, if necessary, you can get to him in an emergency. My point is simply that a Soldier makes sacrifices no matter where he is or what he's doing. Whether he is in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the United States, he still aches to be with his family. He still cries at night because he missed his wife's birthday again. He still has to watch his daughter's ballet recital on video and try to teach his son how to run a 'Flea-Flicker' over the phone.
The life of an American Soldier is a sacrifice. Period.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Howdy!
This is my first attempt at blogging and I must say, I don't expect it to be a huge success. My life is not a glamorous or dramatic one but I have always been a writer and, since I can't seem to write a fictional story worth reading, I've decided to attempt a real life story. Since I'm sure most of the people reading this already know me, I won't bore you with my entire life story, just the highlights.
I was born in Jacksonville, Florida and we moved to North Carolina when I was 13. We were there for a few years and then we moved to New Jersey, where I met Kyle. My Kyle and I have a beautiful beginning. It was a hard road but it was worth it. He is the greatest gift God has ever given me and I treasure him above all else. Our life is not what I would call 'easy'. His job is demanding and sometimes it feels like he is always away from home for one reason or another. We got married 3 months before he left for basic training and airborne school. After that, he got orders to the 108th MP Company at Fort Bragg, NC, which was exactly what we wanted. This isn't the greatest place in the the world but it's close to both sides of our family and, having lived in NC before, I already knew I wanted to come back. We were here for about 8 months when orders for his first deployment showed up. It didn't really come as a surprise because Kyle was told that his unit was deploying on his first day. However, lack of surprise did not make our goodbye any easier.
There isn't much to say about a deployment. As far as they go, ours was relatively easy. Kyle was able to call pretty much every day if nothing was going on and he was not in a war zone. It was miserable to be away from each other and to know that we were both aching but we couldn't comfort each other. There are no comforting words for such times. You share the same pain and the understanding that no matter what you say, you can't make it better for the other one. On the other hand, our deployment was as hard as any other. I was about 5 months pregnant with our first little girl when he had to walk away. Unlike so many military men that we know, Kyle was able to get R&R, thanks to his Sgt working his tail off, and he was home for our little girl's birth. Our Paige was barely 7 days old when he had to walk away again and was 8 months old when he finally made it home. All I have to say about that is that the second goodbye is the worst and there are no words on this earth to describe his homecoming. It has been a huge adjustment since he got home. We treasure our time together like only an Army family can and our little girl certainly adores her Daddy!
Kyle was assigned to a new unit not long after getting back and he is loving it. He is now part of the 42nd MP Detachment. There are good and bad things about his new unit. His days are not so long and his unit is non-deployable but he is gone for 1-2 weeks every other month for another school. That is frustrating but it's not a year long deployment so I will take it! We have really seen God's provision for our family with this new unit change. Kyle wants to be part of civilian law enforcement when he gets out of the Army and the training that he is receiving will look awesome on his resumé! God is good!
Another big change is that we're expecting our second baby girl on January 3, 2012. We're excited to see our family grow! However, the bad part is that Paige was a summer baby so none of her clothes are going to work for her sister! In case you're wondering, we still haven't picked out a name for her yet.
So, in conclusion, our family is whole again and we are growing. God is always faithful!
I was born in Jacksonville, Florida and we moved to North Carolina when I was 13. We were there for a few years and then we moved to New Jersey, where I met Kyle. My Kyle and I have a beautiful beginning. It was a hard road but it was worth it. He is the greatest gift God has ever given me and I treasure him above all else. Our life is not what I would call 'easy'. His job is demanding and sometimes it feels like he is always away from home for one reason or another. We got married 3 months before he left for basic training and airborne school. After that, he got orders to the 108th MP Company at Fort Bragg, NC, which was exactly what we wanted. This isn't the greatest place in the the world but it's close to both sides of our family and, having lived in NC before, I already knew I wanted to come back. We were here for about 8 months when orders for his first deployment showed up. It didn't really come as a surprise because Kyle was told that his unit was deploying on his first day. However, lack of surprise did not make our goodbye any easier.
There isn't much to say about a deployment. As far as they go, ours was relatively easy. Kyle was able to call pretty much every day if nothing was going on and he was not in a war zone. It was miserable to be away from each other and to know that we were both aching but we couldn't comfort each other. There are no comforting words for such times. You share the same pain and the understanding that no matter what you say, you can't make it better for the other one. On the other hand, our deployment was as hard as any other. I was about 5 months pregnant with our first little girl when he had to walk away. Unlike so many military men that we know, Kyle was able to get R&R, thanks to his Sgt working his tail off, and he was home for our little girl's birth. Our Paige was barely 7 days old when he had to walk away again and was 8 months old when he finally made it home. All I have to say about that is that the second goodbye is the worst and there are no words on this earth to describe his homecoming. It has been a huge adjustment since he got home. We treasure our time together like only an Army family can and our little girl certainly adores her Daddy!
Kyle was assigned to a new unit not long after getting back and he is loving it. He is now part of the 42nd MP Detachment. There are good and bad things about his new unit. His days are not so long and his unit is non-deployable but he is gone for 1-2 weeks every other month for another school. That is frustrating but it's not a year long deployment so I will take it! We have really seen God's provision for our family with this new unit change. Kyle wants to be part of civilian law enforcement when he gets out of the Army and the training that he is receiving will look awesome on his resumé! God is good!
Another big change is that we're expecting our second baby girl on January 3, 2012. We're excited to see our family grow! However, the bad part is that Paige was a summer baby so none of her clothes are going to work for her sister! In case you're wondering, we still haven't picked out a name for her yet.
So, in conclusion, our family is whole again and we are growing. God is always faithful!
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