Son and two daughters

You would think that if you had two daughters and one son, the son would be the one going into the military. Not in my case. My daughter enlisted into the US Army. Then she deployed two times to Iraq. I asked her to write a story about how she felt during and after her deployments. She spent almost 10 years in until her last deployment when she was medevac’d out due to injuries. The following is her story. When I read it, it tore me up thinking that my daughter has to experience feelings like that. She will suffer from PTSD the rest of her life. Anyway, here it is:

Let me paint a picture here. Imagine, if you will. You join the military to support your family. Your lifestyle changes because the military differs from how you and your family lived. You leave your family for Basic Training and school and then go into the field. Then you deploy, and everything changes. You are scared and excited at the same time. There is no way of knowing what to expect. Also, there’s the possibility that you might not make it back.

You leave your family for a year longer and watch them cry as you walk out to get on the plane. You do your deployment and pass the time by talking to your battle buddies about what you will eat when you come home. Mostly you talk about your family back in the states. You work closely with your battle buddies and become like brothers and sisters. Your favorite part is when you get care packages from your family. It also feels like Christmas when you receive letters from your family. You get pictures of your children and watch them grow up.