From a Service Mom

Our son went to boot camp in West Chicago over three years ago. It was hard not to hear from him then. However, it was well worth it the day he walked into the ceremonial hall and graduated second in his class. He has since moved up to petty officer.

Because of those first few weeks, we saw our son grow up into a man. Deployed or not no enlisted man chooses his job. He works under orders. Our hearts were in our mouths when we heard about helicopters down in the desert. We worried when a helicopter went into the ocean off Coronado. (He is stationed in San Diego, California and works on helicopters.)

The service trains its people to work as one. He hurt when it touched his squadron, his sister squadron, the base, and on and on. It is always hardest at holidays when family and traditions pull.  We do what we can, when we can, as we can. We use a computer, web cam, or phone if we can. There are many times we can’t.

He will be shipping out this winter. We probably won’t  see him for a year. We wouldn’t change things though.  We support our forces and our son whole-heartily. We do our best to keep his spirits up yet he knows us and he knows we worry. It’s natural.I pray to God.  It helps.

I try to keep busy. I do some volunteer work for a veteran’s organization and am a member of a local PTA group even though my children have all grown up.