Off Again to that Other War - Written By A Good Friend

[The following is an Opinion Piece that was printed in the Viewpoint section of 'The Charlotte Observer' today 4-8-05 and written by a good friend of mine about their Sons Third Deployment into the War Theaters of Iraq and Afganistan. What isn't in the writeup about their son Jim is that after already doing a Tour in Afganistan, and thinking he could get an Army School on return, they instead recieved orders for a Tour in Iraq with little time before deployment. In that short time he Married his SweetHeart and they are now Proud Parents of their First Child, and as Amy writes New Daddy Jim is Heading back to Afganistan!!]

http://tinyurl.com/4n2ek

Posted on Fri, Apr. 08, 2005
Off again to that other war Son's regiment leaves for 3rd tour of duty AMY KEITH Special to the Observer
Today my husband and I will travel to Fayetteville to say goodbye to our older son as he departs, one more time, for Afghanistan. The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment will be leaving for their third tour of combat duty since December 2002, most likely for at least a year. It won't make huge headlines like the NCAA championship. It probably won't get mentioned at all because the focus is on Iraq, while bodies are still needed for the real war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
They've been to Afghanistan once together, and then to Iraq, this group of young men. When they come home, they will have spent more time together in combat than any soldiers since World War II.
It's no secret that that my husband and I have been adamantly opposed to the invasion of Iraq, which is tying up so many troops in the overburdened Army that soldiers, active and Reserve, are being deployed over and over again. But no matter. They, we, are still in Iraq, and they will be off to war one more time.
So, here we go again, through the guarded gates of Fort Bragg. We'll all joke around together, and we'll promise weekly care packages, and we'll hug, and I'll turn away as my soldier son says goodbye to his wife and infant daughter. He'll turn and disappear, one more time, to the other side of the earth, to a desert that will not be friendly or hospitable.
I've contemplated this scenario a thousand times during the last month or so, trying to mentally steel myself for the real thing, to gather enough strength to get through those moments without crumbling. In the book "Gilead," Marilynne Robinson writes about a preacher's reflection on Abraham's having to send Ishmael, a son he loved, into the wilderness at the bidding of God. Ishmael is rescued from death by an angel and goes on to build a nation. "Great faith," the preacher writes to his own son, "is required to give the child up, trusting God to honor the parents' love for him by assuring that there will indeed be angels in that wilderness."
Godspeed, 504th. Take care of each other and come home safe. All that the rest of us can do is trust that, one more time, there will be angels in that desert.
Amy Keith of Charlotte is a member of Military Families Speak Out. Write her at shirtwearer1@yahoo.com.