A friend sent me a message today with the link to this Gratitude Campaign. Check it out, it is something simple, and yet appreciated. It got me thinking about our time as a Military Family and all those still serving, and all the families that are left behind to cope with the day to day things of life, while the military member goes off on deployments.
Ever wonder how to say thank you when you see a military person in uniform? See a simple way to do it from across a room or as you are passing by.http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php Please pass it on to family &friends! The Gratitude Sign
As a young girl growing up, I knew my dad had served in the military, (in the Philipines in WWII) but I didn't know anyone else personally who'd served, and not during my lifetime, and it was never anything I imagined I'd be a part of. After a year of college, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I went back East to be a Nanny in N.Y. Through, a series of various circumstances, I began going up to West Point Military Academy and was invited to attend Church there. I eventually met and later married my sweet husband Bill, after he graduated.
While associating with the families at West Point, I got a small taste for what it was like to be a military family, however, little did I know what that would mean for my life!
We moved to Alabama, first for a school, then we went off to Germany, where we lived when Bill went off to the Gulf War in saudi Arabia for 5 months, and I stayed and had my first baby. Gratefuly a dear friend came and spent a couple of months with me and helped when I had the baby. We have lived in AL, Germany, AL, Calif, New Mexico, Japan, and Alabama again. During our almost 19 years in the military Bill has been deployed twice, and been gone for various schools of anywhere from 6 weeks to 4+ months. Those times when my husband was gone for weeks or months at a time and I was alone trying to raise our growing family, I don't think I was nearly as supportive as I should/could have been, and I sort of go into a 'wo is me' mode. It has been difficult, but as a family we have actually been blessed and have not had nearly as much separation as many of our friends and other military families.
For most of the past 4 years Bill has been in a job where he was wearing Civilian clothes, and when the military changed uniforms last year, there was a time he thoguht he would never even wear a uniform again. There was a part of him that missed being in uniform, and he commented once about Liam never even seeing him in a uniform. A few months ago his job was changed, and he had to go out and buy the new uniform. Though we all still like the old green camaflouge uniform, it is kind of nice to see him in uniform daily again.
(even if it's the grayish digital camo).
(even if it's the grayish digital camo).Recently he told me they were asking (I guess in his office?) for volunteers to go to Iraq. Though it would have been very difficult to have him go again... I do understand his slight dissapointment at the fact that he can't volunteer because he is now diabetic and can't be deployed. Not that he WANTS to leave his family, but his sense of Duty to Serve his country is 3 generations strong. He wants to do his duty as a Military Man, and I love him for that. Even though Liam will doubtfully remember much about his dad actually being in the military, but I hope that we will be able to share enough about this heritage of Military Duty and Service that he will appreciate what his forfathers have given.
