Families and the Military

Kyle In Iraq

I have a son who joined the Army in 2005. It was a very hard year for him. He had a four year old son, he was a single dad, and worked several dead end jobs.
At one point his son got very sick and had to be taken to the emergency for a fever that would not break. The doctors worked very hard to bring the fever down. After what seemed like days, it finally broke and they were able to send Jayden home.

It made my son realize that HE had no health insurance. The next day Kyle went and spoke to the recruiter. I, as a mother, did not want Kyle to go. I gave him so many reasons not to go. But he had more reasons why he needed to do this.

Kyle left in November 2006 the week before Thanksgiving. I was so sad. I kept thinking about Kyle getting thru Basic training. How he was being treated, what he was having to do. Did they get a Thanksgiving dinner? And that was just the beginning. After 10 weeks of basic, he spent 20 weeks for advanced training to become a medic. He left for his first tour in September of 2007. I always have selfish thoughts about how all this made me feel. About what I was going thru, thinking, wondering. But, really, I should have been thinking about Kyle and all the other men and women who have served our country. Shame on me!!!

Kyle went on to serve 6 years and two tours of Iraq.Thank god, he came home.

Kyle learned so much and experienced so much, some good, some not so good. But, he's home. Going to school on the GI bill. His son is 10 years old and doing great.

Sometimes we need to stop and think about what we have. Appreciate all the we have, and thank all the men and women who have served our country.