Goodbyes

The officer stands before a crowd of friends, family, support groups, and 200+ soldiers. He faces forward and says most bluntly: "we are not here because of deployment, we are not here because we are going to training, we are here because we are going to war." Those words have been echoing in my head ever since. We have been "going to war" for 4 years now and it is now that I reflect on sitting in front of these people and seeing the soldiers all lined up, Larry so serious that it occurs to me what this all means. I have seen it on the news and heard about it from the friends I have that have gone and now it is my cousin. He plays so cool and collected. He hates the attention this is bringing to him. What he doesn't realize is that we all just want him know we love him, to know that we are thinking of him, to know that we appreciate what he is doing, and that we just want him to come home safe and sound and soon. The current plan is for them to be stationed in Mississippi for training for approximately 6 months. He will have leave at Christmas but will go right back to continue preparing for Iraq. The will leave for Iraq when they are all trained and ready to go. At which time, they will be deployed overseas for about one year. I can't decribe the fear I have for this. And I know that right now the fear isn't exactly necessary since he will be stateside for a long time yet. But it is the idea that this war is not getting that much better and he will not be in control of what "the other guy" will do. They told us last night, these are the best trained soldiers in the nation. I am not sure if that makes me worry less or more. Do you put the better ones closer to the bad stuff? Do you send the good ones to do the tough work? Please everyone - continue to pray for ALL the servicemen overseas now and until this is over. And please pray that my annoying, pain-in-the-ass, smooth talking, loveable cousin comes home safely in 2 years.