Sgt. D. W.
Up until this deployment, I supported the current conflicts that are going on. I saw the same as everyone else while watching the nightly news. Yes, I had and have friends and fellow soldiers serving both in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, I never really put any thoughts into the overall effects that these wars have on the innocent. The soldiers that enlist, from the beginning, know exactly what they are getting themselves into. When I re-enlisted, I knew that the day would come when I too would be deployed. I never really put much thought into how my deployment would effect my wife or my children. Nor did I put much thought into other Soldiers' children. As a Military Police Officer in Germany, I met many children with deployed parents. I spent many hours of many shifts with these children, listening to their problems, their concerns and their questions. Many of these kids were able to see fathers and mothers every now and then, mostly just between deployments. One of the kids that I met, Joseph, has a father who was first deployed in the end of 2003, he was gone for 14 months, came home, changed duty stations and was off again three months later. He was gone for almost 15 months for that deployment, after that was over, he was assigned to a unit in Germany. Within five months of being in Germany, he was deployed once again to Iraq. His son is one of four children, all missing their father. Joesph could not understand why his father and so many others were so needed in so many different places. He could not understand why his father could not be there to help him with everyday life. I heard many stories like this in the year that I was deployed. The children of service members are the innocents in this world climate that are not spoken of. They are the real casualties of this war. We need to finish the task at hand and bring our troops home so they can be with their family where they belong.
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