What an amazing year this has been…Full of challenges, commitments, changes and blessings. For starters, my son was called back into duty last February after a 2 year hiatus. He had served his country from 2002-2006 with an 18 month tour in Iraq (2005-2006) that included a stopless order just before he was scheduled to come home. If that wasn’t challenging enough this new commitment would be. Not only was he sent to the National Guard rather than the Army (where he first landed) he was placed in a group of other soldiers who had never worked together and had no idea where they were going or when they’d be leaving. The most difficult part of that whole ordeal was the unknown, both for him, his new wife of less than a year and us, his family.
He arrived in Mississippi on April, 4th and did absolutely nothing until he arrived in Iraq (not Afghanistan) on July 10th – We quickly found out that the National Guard is nothing like the Army. And my son loathed the lack of disipline and un-orderliness of the entire group. The greatest blessing in this mess was the fact that all along they had been telling him he would most likely be going to Afghanistan. Now, he had been in the thick of things the last time he was in Iraq as he was bodyguard for the Colonel and the Major. He was attached with the 172nd Stryker Brigade – a tough team who fought bravely and captured many insurgents during their time in both Mosul and Baghdad. So this new order sent him to Iraq behind a desk filing paperwork…My son hated this with a passion while the rest of us were elated. God certainly heard our prayers and kept him safe the entire time which ended sooner than expected after 8 months rather than a full year! He arrived home March 17th…Praise God for He is Good!
