The phone rings and you go to answer it. It is your lieutenant and he tells you that you are being deployed in Afghanistan in three hours. You go to pack and you know that when you leave, you might never return. Your family relies on your income and if that income perishes, they will have to sell the house. Your three hours are up and you kiss your family goodbye. You promise them you’ll be back but you know you’re hiding the truth. You say a silent prayer and keep the image of your family in the back of your head as you drive away. In a different scenario, you get a text from your coach saying to be at the stadium in one hour. You play your rivals today and the win is resting on your shoulders. Win or lose, you will return home and sleep in …show more content…
They are constantly separated from their family and friends. They miss birthdays, graduations, and even weddings of their loved ones. These and many other milestones are things that they will never be able to share with their family. For example, Thelma is a military wife and was three months pregnant when her husband was deployed. “When he got commissioned, we knew we were in it for the long haul. We decided only one of us would be gone and the other would stay behind with our children” she says. They ended up having three children and moved eleven times in the current nineteen years they have been married. Her husband and many other military personnel miss many important happenings in their family’s life. Not only do they sacrifice seeing their family, they sacrifice their time. They live at their job unlike many athletes or even everyday citizens. Some may reason that athletes are away from home as well, but the difference is our military could be away for years at a time. Professional athletes are usually away from home for a month or so then return home. The athlete’s family can even visit them, but this is not the case for our military. These families are torn and nothing can be done. They work extremely hard and sacrifice everything they have for this