Military Moms and Dads

This month is Military Family Appreciation Month. It is good to recognize the sacrifice of the families who support their service members at home and on deployment. My daughters-in-laws and son in law have held down the fort during multiple deployments. And my grandchildren have also felt the sting  of daddy being gone for months on the time. I remember that from my childhood as well. My dad, a career Army office , was gone a lot including multiple tours in Viet Nam. I remember watching scary news footage and rebelling when I had to leave my friends one more time

I want to focus today on some other members of the family-the parents, especially of the single military servicemen or women. It is a little daunting to get a big envelope in the mail with your kid's will and life insurance policy. We usually miss out on those family awareness and pre-deployment family briefings. If we are lucky our kids add our name to the Family Readiness Officer newsletters. but we are spread out all over the county with no other service family members around us to share the weight of worry. Many of us have no knowledge of the military and not many people around us who really understand what it is like. You get a lot of questions like,"How can you stand it-I could  never handle my kids doing that", or " You must be afraid to watch the news." Usually I am just brave and breeze through it. But sometimes I want to just start sobbing and turn into a quivering mound as I squeak out," He is flying over Libya right now. " But since we are the less than one percent they would not get it and back up hurriedly to move away.

To be fair I wish I had a dollar for everyone who has thanked me for their service. But there are times when you do wish your kids lived down the street especially when you don't hear from them for weeks on end or they are in harm's way.

But we continue to do our part. We babysit their pets, store their stuff. We send care packages and pray that no one in uniform shows up on our doorsteps. And if, heaven forbid they are injured  we do whatever we can to help them become whole again. We have them move in with us, drive them to medical care-maybe hours away, and do what it takes because they are our and our country's treasures.

Military moms and dads-one of the toughest jobs in the world, right behind spouses and military kids. I am very proud to be one. We need to stick together. Life on the homefront can get mighty tough somedays.