Begins Her Fourth Deployment, Family Waits Return

A Fort Knox soldier begins her fourth deployment and a journey from her family's world to Afghanistan

Capt. Erin Braswell holds her son Liam, 3, as she prepares to leave for Afghanistan. Her husband Eric Braswell and daughter Reilly, 5, will be without her in person for about a year. Reilly was five months old when Braswell deployed to Iraq for 6-7 months. When Liam was four months old she did a full tour of 14 months in Iraq. (By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal) January 16, 2011 / cj

Feb. 19, 2011 - Three days before departure Capt. Erin Braswell looks down at her sleeping daughter. It is early morning, and 5-year-old Reilly has just gone back to sleep after being carried downstairs by her mother and deposited on the couch.

“She's about to lose her first tooth. I thought it would come out before I left, but looks like it's going to hang in there for a while,” Braswell says.



It's yet another milestone the 33-year-old will miss in her daughter's short life.

When she leaves this time, for a yearlong mission to eastern Afghanistan, it will be Braswell's fourth deployment in 81/2 years. Among the last to deploy from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Knox, she is in Army Intelligence and works as an information gatherer trying to learn as much as she can about the enemy, their actions and the threats they may pose. {continued}

Saying Goodbye

Jan. 10, 2010 - Three days ago, 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard Infantry Brigade Combat Team headed for Camp Shelby, Miss.

With the exception of a brief leave, they won't be home again for a year. In two months, they depart for a second tour of duty in Iraq, revisiting territory many of them saw in 2004-05.

It will be a challenge for separated spouses and for mothers and fathers sending sons and daughters into harm's way.

But the deployment may be hardest on soldiers' children, who wonder why Daddy or Mommy missed a birthday, a graduation, that new tooth, those athletic or musical achievements, or, just dinner, night after night.

Cell phones, e-mails, Web cams and other technologies help, but they can't equal having that parent within reach. {continued}