Posted by: Kathryn
A soldier comes home - 07/06/05 06:34 PM
I just had to share this with someone! I was at the airport at around midnight on the 4th of July.
I was waiting for my younger son's plane to arrive and of course it was late. He had been for a visit with my soldier son for the weekend.
Standing nearby, anxious and figeting was a very pregnant young woman and her young son. Behind me was an older man looking nervous, but stoic.
He asked if I knew which flight was arriving. When I told him, he said his son, a soldier, was supposed to be on board returning from the war zone on emergency family leave. I told him I'd just spoken to my son and he was sitting w/ a soldier returning from the war to see his child born. The man called to the young wife, "this lady says her son's sitting w/ our boy!" She came to me and clutched my arm and asked if I was sure. I said, I'm sure he's w/ a soldier, coming home to his pregnant wife, not sure if he's your soldier but I sure hope so. Apparently, my son and this soldier were in the very last row of the plane. I watched this family, their faces showing a mix of hope and fear, watch impatiently as the river of people passed us by. Finally, I saw my son's lacrosse hat, above the other heads.
I saw him turn to a close shaven man and say, "Good luck and God bless". This man stopped in his tracks, looked at my son then followed his gaze to where his wife stood weaping. He ran to her and their son and wrapped them in a huge, hug, tears streaming down his face. I wept quietly and turned to the father of this young man, no longer fearful or stoic, openly but silently weaping at the sight of his child. Standing back allowing the couple to say their hellos while yearning to run forward and grab his son. I touched his arm, said, "God Bless you sir, and God bless your family and keep them safe."
Reunited w/ my own child, hugging him and vicariously hugging my own soldier, the brother he'd just left, far away on the other side of America, I thought to myself, "I hope and pray that I can be as brave as the family I observed tonight, when my time comes and my soldier son is across the world instead of across the country"
When young men and women join the service and go to war, the whole family joins the service and goes to war. I am so full of admiration for the women(and men) who are left behind w/ jobs and houses and children while their spouses are deployed. I marvel at their bravery, because, yes, I have discovered that it takes more courage than I possess, to function at anything approaching normal when you have a family member in the service. There is so much fear and uncertainty, so many bizarre rules and regulations, so little control over even the smallest things.
I know that this is an unpopular war, but I get so angry when I read some of what the average citizen writes to the editor of the local newspaper, or overhear idiotic comments, or read nothing but criticism of the military and emphasis on their failures. "Supporting our troops" is so much more than slapping a yellow magnet on the back of your car or wearing a rubber bracelet (manufactured in China by the way). Soldiers have no choice about where they fight, who they fight, when they fight. Their families have no control over anything. My soldier son told me that they've come to the conclusion that they don't fight "an enemy" because of hate or ideology, they go where they are told and they fight for each other and for their country. The why's, who's and where's are "above their paygrade".
I'm not sure what the point of this post is, except maybe to give a face to the hundred thousand plus families who are dealing w/ this war in a way that most of America can't even imagine. Please think about those families and pray for them. And remember that America is not supposed to be about "we the republicans", or "we the red states" or "we the Christian right" or "we the insert your cause group"....it is
"We the people". And the soldiers and their families are "the people" too.
I was waiting for my younger son's plane to arrive and of course it was late. He had been for a visit with my soldier son for the weekend.
Standing nearby, anxious and figeting was a very pregnant young woman and her young son. Behind me was an older man looking nervous, but stoic.
He asked if I knew which flight was arriving. When I told him, he said his son, a soldier, was supposed to be on board returning from the war zone on emergency family leave. I told him I'd just spoken to my son and he was sitting w/ a soldier returning from the war to see his child born. The man called to the young wife, "this lady says her son's sitting w/ our boy!" She came to me and clutched my arm and asked if I was sure. I said, I'm sure he's w/ a soldier, coming home to his pregnant wife, not sure if he's your soldier but I sure hope so. Apparently, my son and this soldier were in the very last row of the plane. I watched this family, their faces showing a mix of hope and fear, watch impatiently as the river of people passed us by. Finally, I saw my son's lacrosse hat, above the other heads.
I saw him turn to a close shaven man and say, "Good luck and God bless". This man stopped in his tracks, looked at my son then followed his gaze to where his wife stood weaping. He ran to her and their son and wrapped them in a huge, hug, tears streaming down his face. I wept quietly and turned to the father of this young man, no longer fearful or stoic, openly but silently weaping at the sight of his child. Standing back allowing the couple to say their hellos while yearning to run forward and grab his son. I touched his arm, said, "God Bless you sir, and God bless your family and keep them safe."
Reunited w/ my own child, hugging him and vicariously hugging my own soldier, the brother he'd just left, far away on the other side of America, I thought to myself, "I hope and pray that I can be as brave as the family I observed tonight, when my time comes and my soldier son is across the world instead of across the country"
When young men and women join the service and go to war, the whole family joins the service and goes to war. I am so full of admiration for the women(and men) who are left behind w/ jobs and houses and children while their spouses are deployed. I marvel at their bravery, because, yes, I have discovered that it takes more courage than I possess, to function at anything approaching normal when you have a family member in the service. There is so much fear and uncertainty, so many bizarre rules and regulations, so little control over even the smallest things.
I know that this is an unpopular war, but I get so angry when I read some of what the average citizen writes to the editor of the local newspaper, or overhear idiotic comments, or read nothing but criticism of the military and emphasis on their failures. "Supporting our troops" is so much more than slapping a yellow magnet on the back of your car or wearing a rubber bracelet (manufactured in China by the way). Soldiers have no choice about where they fight, who they fight, when they fight. Their families have no control over anything. My soldier son told me that they've come to the conclusion that they don't fight "an enemy" because of hate or ideology, they go where they are told and they fight for each other and for their country. The why's, who's and where's are "above their paygrade".
I'm not sure what the point of this post is, except maybe to give a face to the hundred thousand plus families who are dealing w/ this war in a way that most of America can't even imagine. Please think about those families and pray for them. And remember that America is not supposed to be about "we the republicans", or "we the red states" or "we the Christian right" or "we the insert your cause group"....it is
"We the people". And the soldiers and their families are "the people" too.
![[Smile]](images/icons/smile.gif){kind=icon}