Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Army man

The letter was mailed Friday to PFC Joshua, in Fort Benning, GA. I still haven't recieved a response.

Basic training. Does he even have time to write? Will they let him write to me? Are they being as mean as you always hear about basic training? I wonder all of these things and more. Do they get to hear the news in basic and, if so, does he know that another war has started since he was sent to Georgia three weeks ago? Now, in addition to Afgahnistan and Iraq, we are also bombing Libya.

I'm just guessing that PFC Joshua won't be deployed to Hawaii, or anyplace in the US. I really doubt he will be safe wherever they send him.

There are a few things I do know. I know he is homesick. He comes from a very close knit family with two adoring brothers who miss him daily. I know that by now most of the hero glamour has faded and he has seen what kind of life being a military man really envolves. I know he has probably already made life-long friends, because that's the kind of person he is. And, I know that if he has heard about the new wars, it is never far from his mind that they probably will send him overseas to fight. I know he is scared.

I know that he looks forward to coming home at the end of basic training, if only for a week or two, to be with his loved ones. He wants to see his girlfriend, his brothers, his parents. He wants to eat junk food and hang out with pals. But I also know, it will never be the same. He will look at things and people differently from now on.

Will he get shot at? Will he be deployed overseas? Suffer PTSD? Will he ever be our happy-go-lucky Josh again?

No answers to those questions.

The only thing I know for certain is that I have prayed for him, for his safety and sanity. And I can rest in that.



Sharon Raines has two books available: 'Through Mom's Eyes'at http://www.publishamerica.net/product27236.html and 'I'm still the cuckoo of this clock' http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sharonraines You can also check me out on Twitter. http://twitter.com/ Franks1wife

No comments: