When I met my husband, I knew he was in the USAF. He had been deployed to Iraq before and had told me that he would be returning. I was not too sure what to expect, being as I come from a non-military family. We got married in September of 2007, aproximatly one month before he was to go to the sandbox

When the deployment started to approach us, he prepared me in every way he thought possible. Even with all of that, I had no idea what to expect. Just a head full of ideas and what I had seen on the news.  "I don't know how you are going to do it, you are so young and it is going to be so hard", he is 24 and I am 22.  I never thought age had anything to do with it.  My perspective was that if we could make it through this then we could make it through anything the world could throw at us.

The deployment date arrived quickly.  We said our tearful "see you later".  We never say goodbye, that is so final.  We were not sure when we would speak to each other again. I watched other couples, our age and younger doing the same thing. Many of them had been through this times before.  The hardest thing I have ever had to do was watch him board the bus and know it could be the last time I saw my husband again. 

The first few weeks were the worst.  There was not a lot of contact, they had to establish themselves there, being as I had never been through this I relyed on our key spouse to tell me what was normal and what was not. That was the worst, I prayed everynight for an email, call, anything that would let me know he was alright. The news had become my worst enemy.

The wives and girlfriends who had endured this before told me that "No news is good news". At that time it was so hard to grasp. They told me to establish myself here, make friends in the same situation. Little did I know those women would be what got me this far. I went to the functions for the spouses in an attempt to make friends in the same situation.  They are all such wonderfully strong women.  I would like to think that I could be as calm and collected as they are.

My husbands deployment has been a hard one. With injuries in his unit, constant threats at every corner, it was taking a toll on him. Everytime we talked he sounded exausted, worn down and stressed out. He told me that the shifts were long and hard, many of the guys were getting sick. Mainly from stress and lack of sleep, I'm sure.

People always ask me if I think that it is worth what we are giving up.  I honestly think that it is.  It is for the greater good and the people who have loved ones "over there" all seem to think the same way.  It is what gets us through the days

I hate hearing people who bad mouth the war. My husband had to leave me to fight for it, if I don't have any faith in the good that they are doing, then I would not make it. Better yet, if you don't support the war, you can still support our soldiers who are over there.