The reason my son is moving his family to Ohio is because his stint in the Marine Corps will soon be over. My daughter-in-law is from the Columbus area, and it was the area in Ohio with the most jobs. It was natural, then, that on our trip "home" we would talk about the Marines.
My son had mentioned being in the reserves, so I asked his wife about it, and she said he had decided against it. The reason was that he could not keep his current MOS(method of service), and any other one might land him in Iraq.
I know it is bad of me, but I was glad to hear that. When my son was in boot camp, it seemed like I ran into a lot of Marine moms. One that I talked to said that her son had been in Iraq during Desert Storm. I asked her how she lived with it, and she said she didn't think she had a full night's sleep the whole time her son was away.
My son graduated from boot camp 9/7/01 in a relatively peaceful world, or so we thought. That all changed four days later. When we went to war, my daughter-in-law was worried because the other Marine wives had told her that Iraq would be another Viet Nam. I tried to reassure her, tell her that certainly we as a country are in this to win. I still believe in what I said: I just think that maybe we underestimated the task. Just like with the Geneva Convention or other rules, the rules of war only work if everyone follows them, and while we as a civilized country try to do so (prison incidents aside), I think we naively assume that the rest of the world does too. And they don't.
I have heard people say that the United States should have anticipated something bad happening on 9/11. After all, we call 9-1-1 for emergencies, don't we? But while I see a vague connection, I don't see how any civilized nation could have foreseen such a horrendous act of terrorism, just like we couldn't believe that concentration camps existed and we have a hard time with child abuse. Decent people don't do such things. Unfortunately, people do them.
I have great respect for our armed forces, no matter what their method of service is or where they are deployed. I am sure I don't understand the sacrifices that military families make like a military family does, but I do realize that there is a sacrifice, that they give up their personal freedom and, really, the freedom of their families for the sake of a higher good. Having said that, though, I am glad that my son's period of sacrifice is nearing an end. I am his mom, and I will worry about him and about his family, but maybe, since God is good, I will not have to worry about his being in a war zone.
And, even though I tend to get teary about patriotism, my son's military service has changed me. I understand better now what life was like for my dad when he went into the Navy shortly after he married my mom. I understand that being away from your family is a big sacrifice. I had a cousin who died in Viet Nam, and I have seen his name on the memorial wall in Washington, but it is my son's service that has given his sacrifice meaning. I don't think another Veteran's or Memorial Day will go by for me without my remembering the faces of the servicemen and their families that I have met in the last four years. And I will not hesitate to share hugs, or maybe tears, as moms, dads and relatives share their stories about their enlisted sons and daughters. My prayers go out to all the families that have lost someone they love while that person was serving our country. I am well aware that their loss could have been my own.
My son had mentioned being in the reserves, so I asked his wife about it, and she said he had decided against it. The reason was that he could not keep his current MOS(method of service), and any other one might land him in Iraq.
I know it is bad of me, but I was glad to hear that. When my son was in boot camp, it seemed like I ran into a lot of Marine moms. One that I talked to said that her son had been in Iraq during Desert Storm. I asked her how she lived with it, and she said she didn't think she had a full night's sleep the whole time her son was away.
My son graduated from boot camp 9/7/01 in a relatively peaceful world, or so we thought. That all changed four days later. When we went to war, my daughter-in-law was worried because the other Marine wives had told her that Iraq would be another Viet Nam. I tried to reassure her, tell her that certainly we as a country are in this to win. I still believe in what I said: I just think that maybe we underestimated the task. Just like with the Geneva Convention or other rules, the rules of war only work if everyone follows them, and while we as a civilized country try to do so (prison incidents aside), I think we naively assume that the rest of the world does too. And they don't.
I have heard people say that the United States should have anticipated something bad happening on 9/11. After all, we call 9-1-1 for emergencies, don't we? But while I see a vague connection, I don't see how any civilized nation could have foreseen such a horrendous act of terrorism, just like we couldn't believe that concentration camps existed and we have a hard time with child abuse. Decent people don't do such things. Unfortunately, people do them.
I have great respect for our armed forces, no matter what their method of service is or where they are deployed. I am sure I don't understand the sacrifices that military families make like a military family does, but I do realize that there is a sacrifice, that they give up their personal freedom and, really, the freedom of their families for the sake of a higher good. Having said that, though, I am glad that my son's period of sacrifice is nearing an end. I am his mom, and I will worry about him and about his family, but maybe, since God is good, I will not have to worry about his being in a war zone.
And, even though I tend to get teary about patriotism, my son's military service has changed me. I understand better now what life was like for my dad when he went into the Navy shortly after he married my mom. I understand that being away from your family is a big sacrifice. I had a cousin who died in Viet Nam, and I have seen his name on the memorial wall in Washington, but it is my son's service that has given his sacrifice meaning. I don't think another Veteran's or Memorial Day will go by for me without my remembering the faces of the servicemen and their families that I have met in the last four years. And I will not hesitate to share hugs, or maybe tears, as moms, dads and relatives share their stories about their enlisted sons and daughters. My prayers go out to all the families that have lost someone they love while that person was serving our country. I am well aware that their loss could have been my own.
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