Extra tough to see this for those of us who have had to hold crying kiddos (up through teenage years) as we watch Dad in formation, readying to go to the sandbox for multiple tours. We would all like to be out there holding Dad’s hand. Great photo if it makes people stop and think about the sacrifice. I just hope my kids don’t see it.
I thought about that when I first saw the photo. Since his commander allowed it, why can’t other commander’s do so as well? It may have opened up a can of worms by setting a bad precedence for future deployments of other units across the country...
But I wanted to reflect on the tenderness of the photo instead.