life in the non-war

My friend Margie called me early yesterday morning
from a phonebooth at a campground in California
in her pajamas. Her daughter Whitney, 26, is in
Germany and just found out her husband who
was scheduled to return home this month was
suddenly and unexpectedly deployed to Bagdad.

Good thing we aren't still at war.

When she and 500 other wives gathered at the
Army base to find out more - like when were
they going to be back since they've already
been there for the requisite year - they were
told "be brave" and "your husbands are soldiers"
and basically "keep your chins up."

Good thing we aren't still at war.

Supposedly, the men had already broken down
equipment and some had made it onto a flight
back home, but Whitney's husband (of 5 years,
father to their 4 year old daughter) hadn't
boarded his flight home from Kuwait. He was
headed into Iraq.

Good thing we aren't still at war.

Supposedly, some of the wives are in psychiatric
wards at hospitals oversees, unable to cope with
the pressure of not knowing on top of the year
of pressures without their husbands at home.
Sure, the Army had said their husbands' terms
would be "1 year or until the completion of
the mission." How long has it been since the
war "ended?"

Good thing we aren't still at war.

This isn't a story about the wives of soldiers
going off to war - I mean overseas. This is a story
about how none of us really know what is going
on over there.

But it is a damn good thing we aren't still at war.

Isn't it.

Comments

[Jerry]

Damn good thing we're not at war. A neighbor, my six-year old Michael's friend, has had a "Welcome Home, Daddy" sign on their porch for a month now. He was called up a year ago. He was due back two months ago. They're still waiting and don't know what's going on.
This weekend I heard two Pentagon officials discussing the fact that the services are stretched so thin that they are preparing to reinstate the draft. Two of my three kids will be of age in a few years.