THE NEWS NOBODY WANTS

Yesterday was a day I hope I never have to repeat. Learning of the first deaths of your brigade's deployment is a gut wrenching experience. Why it is so shocking is hard to explain....I mean we all know our husbands are away at war. This isn't training; this is the real thing. Still, we tend to minimize the dangers in our own minds just to keep it all together & stay strong for our family. That illusion is now shattered. We are all now reminded that the dreaded knock on the door really can happen. While this is hard for me to swallow, I am can only try to imagine the anguish the family that actually got that knock is feeling. My pain nowhere near compares to what they are going through. My heart aches for them.

My 7-year-old brought home a note from school asking us to talk to our kids about what happened before they return to school where counselors will meet with all of the children. Two of her schoolmates lost their daddy so it is only a matter of time before the other kids find out, so I guess they are right, that it is better that they hear it from us. That way, we can answer any questions they have & try to reassure them. Just because kids don't talk about something doesn't mean they aren't thinking about something so this was a necessary conversation. Still, it wasn't a very easy conversation. I tried to look like I wasn't worried & to sound confident while I told her the sad news that we had lost 2 soldiers/heroes from our base and that he was the daddy to kids she went to school with. With tears in my eyes, I reassured her that her daddy is very brave and good at what he does and that he will be safe. I think I was trying to reassure myself as much as her. I told her it was ok to be sad and that she should pray for the families and all of our soldiers, which is something we already do every single night. This is a scary time for us all but for an innocent child who doesn't even fully understand the concept of war it is even harder.

Next, I had to break the news to my 15-year-old who took it pretty hard himself. He had all kinds of emotions from being sad and worried that it was one of his friend's parents to being angry at the whole war and even at the entire Muslim religion after he found out that it was one of the Afghan policemen whom we were helping train that was responsible for the deaths. I had to remind him that while most of the terrorists & people we are fighting are Muslim, all Muslims do not think that way and in fact MOST Muslims do not feel that way. He is of a very impressionable age and I don't want him to learn intolerance from all of this.

It's such a complicated world and it's hard to explain things to your children when I admittedly can't even comprehend it all myself.  All I know is that we are a country of freedom and opportunity, and I am proud of my husband and all of the other brave soldiers who put their life on the line and make sacrifices every single day to keep it that way. They fight wars away from home to not only try and make life better for the kids and future generations in those countries, but also to keep the war and fighting away from our homeland so that their children can continue to live in a peaceful nation. I am so thankful that men like this exist, men like the 2 soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Whether you agree with the war or not, I hope you will continue to support the troops and appreciate their service. Send an extra prayer up for them every night, as well as for the families who no longer have a husband to share their life with, a daddy to read to them or throw the ball with them, or a son to hug. Freedom is never free.

http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/germany/dod-names-2-baumholder-soldiers-killed-in-afghanistan-1.140133