5 Years at War: An Army Wife Remembers

"U.S. AT WAR!!"

Returning back to our hotel room after a long day at the beach on Spring Break, this was the caption my friends and I saw scrolling across the screen. Suddenly, our carefree attitudes quickly left. It was already a scary time in America following the 9/11 attacks, and we had all known something was possibly coming, but we had hoped it wouldn't when we were in a foreign country. We panicked about how the borders might be closed and we wouldn't be able to get home but those fears were quickly resolved with a few phone calls. Once we were safe on U.S. soil, I remember thinking that this war would probably only last a few weeks like the first one and would never directly impact me. Wow, was I wrong

My husband now -- boyfriend at the time -- is in the Iowa National Guard. He had served for 6 months in Kuwait in 2000, but never saw any real action. I still remember the first time he told me he was leaving to go to Iraq. I was panicked. All I knew was the stories that I had heard on the news and the grim images of building destroyed and death tolls mounting. Luckily the area he was going was relatively safe (but really how safe is relatively safe in Iraq?) and called me almost nightly to tell me he was OK and not to worry. I felt reassured and when he came home 9 months later, I felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief and finally get a good night of sleep. No one in his unit had been hurt and I said my prayers for all that were still over there.

In 2005, on Valentine's Day, he told me that he was volunteering to go back overseas. I was furious. I thought he had already served his duty and couldn't believe that he would volunteer to go back again. Our relationship was much more serious this time and I was about done with college. I couldn't change his mind. He was scheduled to mobilize in July so we headed to my parents house for a week in June. It was then that we got a call that one of his best friends had been killed in action. It was happening again and this time I was more scared. He tried to reassure me that everything would be alright but I just had this feeling that it wasn't. I saw him in October for 5 days and cried my eyes out when I took him to the airport.

American Flag

Credit: www.morguefile.com/endtab

Copyright: www.morguefile.com/endtab