Posted on 06/16/2003 7:04:13 AM PDT by ohioWfan
A little more than one year ago, I introduced you to our 18 year old son, Eric, who in his mother‘s unbiased opinion, is handsome and bright, competitive, athletic and musically talented, at the same time gentle and fierce, possessing an engaging personality, a quick wit, and a deep love for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Last June, two days after he graduated from High School, he left for Army Basic as a Reserve, in Ft. Knox Kentucky. He had felt God clearly calling him to join the military and we sensed that as well, but it was not easy for any of us when he left, and I shared our dual emotions of sorrow mingled with pride, and expressed the loss we shared with thousands of other parents and families whose young sons and daughters were entering the life of the military to serve and protect our great country in its time of need. It was a very different kind of summer for them……….. and for us all.
As the year passed by, I continued to share some of Eric’s experiences with my friends here on Free Republic……how he felt deeply the prayers of others and the presence of the Lord as he witnessed and thrived at boot camp; how his buddies teasingly tried to get him to swear, but never succeeded; how he excelled in his PT, and was chosen as a Squad Leader, how he kept himself awake, lying prostrate in the mud with weapon aimed during his FTX, by singing, “Singin’ in the Rain,” and teasingly annoyed his buddies while standing in line at 4 in the morning waiting to shave, by singing cheerfully, “It’s a Beautiful Morning;” and then last August on A Few of FR’s Finest , I gave an account of our experience of deep emotion, pride and joy at his Basic Training graduation.
He moved on immediately to AIT at Ft. Lee, Virginia, where his MOS was Petroleum Supply in the Quartermaster Corps. While there, he had the rare privilege and emotionally moving experience of being chosen to hold the giant flag, representing the U.S. military at a special 9/11 memorial ceremony at the Nascar race in Richmond, and then in October Eric graduated as Distinguished Honor Graduate, earning the highest GPA of all the soldiers in his combined classes.
Once again, we felt a pride and joy that we have never experienced before. But at the same time looming overhead was the dark cloud of impending war. We all knew it was coming, but could they fight this war…….could they defeat this tyrant, Saddam Hussein without our son………please??
It was a question never far from our thoughts.
In late October, Eric and I went down to Charleston, West Virginia to hear President Bush (at the invitation of dear freeper WVNan), and Eric had the honor of shaking the President’s hand (after his Mom received a memorable kiss on the cheek!). He was so thrilled to have shaken the hand of his Commander in Chief! Knowing that we have a President who loves and supports the troops, and who would not risk their lives unless there was no choice, gave us great comfort, because the possibility that Eric‘s unit would be needed was great. He was in a water supply unit, and this war was to be fought in the desert……..but we tried to push those thoughts aside as we approached the Holidays.
In November Eric went to visit his Grandpa, and they laughed as they swapped Basic Training stories……….tales of gas chambers separated only by 60 years in time.……and we all grieved when that same grandfather was taken home to be with his Lord right before Thanksgiving.
In late January, the word came to his Unit that their activation was likely, and they spent 3 days, including his 19th birthday, at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota in SRP, and came home to wait. We had some conversations with Eric as to how he was feeling about the possibility that he would be involved in the nearing conflict in Iraq. His words to us were, “Do you know how few people in history have had the privilege of freeing a people from a brutal dictator?” He felt honored that he might be a part of a mission that would rid the world of an evil tyrant, and liberate those in bondage under him. The next days were spent at his Unit, preparing equipment, shoveling snow, cleaning, shoveling snow, packing equipment, and also shoveling snow………
Then the word came. They were going to Ft. Campbell to prepare for deployment. It was really happening. When I first saw him after he found out, I asked him how he was. His answer……… “I’ve got peace like a river!” The twinkle in his eye, and the smile on his face reinforced those words of assurance, and we knew even more deeply that he was in the center of God‘s will.
The agonizing delays due to the UN charade and Turkey’s intransigence lengthened his Ft. Campbell time from 2 weeks to 6, and an emotional roller coaster of “We’re leaving tomorrow,” “We’re still here,” “We’re leaving tomorrow,” “We’re still here,” that drove us all to distraction. His Unit had a family weekend early in March, and we went down to spend some time with him before he was deployed. It was a precious time…….a bittersweet reunion and departure, where our laughter belied the pain we all felt in knowing we wouldn’t see each other for a very long time. We visited with extended family, and went to see Gods and Generals at Eric’s request……..he has been a Civil War buff since boyhood…… He proudly modeled his desert boony cap, and camelpack, showed off his sand boots, and the time together was sweet.
On Sunday evening, we left him at his barracks, and began to weep as we left, but as we got to the car, we turned around, and he was standing in the parking lot to watch us drive away. We both went back to him, and we hugged him, sobbed, and prayed together that God would protect this dear and brave young man, and that God would use him for HIS glory no matter what might happen. We left him with tears streaming down his cheeks, and his words echoing in our minds that, in spite of assurance that he was being obedient to the Lord, “It’s so hard.” I have never felt such excruciating emotional pain……….never.
That was more than three months ago. We have spoken to him on the phone only three times since. He is now encamped with part of his Unit on a presidential palace grounds in Baghdad, after spending time in Kuwait, and is fueling vehicles and equipment that purifies water drawn from the lakes on Saddam‘s palace grounds. The blistering daytime heat of 90 degree temperatures at boot camp in Kentucky are now the cool of the evening in Iraq. He runs and works out at night because in the daytime, he works up a sweat on the way back to his tent from the shower! He has told us stories of retrieving pieces of marble from shattered palace buildings, incessant explosions of Iraqi ordinance, magnificent buildings and burnt out tanks and planes, getting to drive a Bradley tank thanks to friends in the 3rd ID, camels causing traffic jams, camel spiders with fuzzy backs and visible fangs roaming his tent, smiling and waving Iraqis and Iraqi children swarming around bags of M&M’s thrown out from their vehicles, driving on roads where every vehicle had taken hostile fire………except the one time he was on it……… and being forced into having to consider every Iraqi they encounter as hostile.
He is in God’s will, and he is in danger, and there is no end date in sight. Though he is anxious to begin college, which has already been delayed a year, he knows that service to his country might delay it even longer. He misses home. He misses friends. He misses freedom, but he is a soldier, and duty comes before self, honor before comfort.
Eric is not experiencing the relaxed, carefree lifestyle of the typical American teenager. He is experiencing hardship and loss, and he will come home a veteran. He will come home with an education that is not to be had in any college, anywhere. He will come home with a discipline and focus that will not be shared by most young men his age. Though in my mind he is still my adorable little towheaded ’laughing boy,’ he is now a man……..and in a way, our hero.
He has experienced the comraderie of fellow soldiers, the fulfillment of his desire and dream to help free the Iraqi people, the honor of service to country and fellowman, and most significantly, has experienced first hand the power of prayer, the blessing and protection of a loving and Sovereign God, and the joy of ‘dwelling in the shelter of the Most High,’ and resting ‘in the shadow of the Almighty.’
The war in Iraq has been won, but is not over. Our troops do not make the front pages much any more, nor make the TV news, but they are still in harm’s way, defending the peace in Iraq……..even if they are part of support units, and not on the ‘front lines.’ Even if they are young men from Ohio driving fuel trucks for water supply units…….
We must continue our fervent prayer support for them, for their leaders, and their Commander in Chief. We must continue to pray for the safety and protection of our nation, because the war on terror is not over. There are battles yet to come in this long and arduous war against evil, for other young men and women who are training to serve as well. The Battle of Iraq is continuing to take its toll for many, and the personal sacrifice is immeasurable.
But so also are the rewards. For it is because of the sacrifice and dedication of these young women and young men, every one of them just as precious as Eric, that we will live in a safer, freer world, and for that, I am thankful.
Here's my own effort as a tribute to what is being accomplished there.
Thank your kid(s?) for me......
Oh, I should add that part of the Middle East Weight Loss Plan includes weekly malaria pills that I nostalgically refer to as "Lava-Lax" for their ability to make people line up anxiously outside the "head" (toilets).
The guitar will be a great surprise and will be put to good use , just one word of caution. If he gets re-assigned or moves, don't let the Army ship it if it's a valuable guitar.
I had a beautiful Ibanez 12 string that I let the Army move for me against my better judgement. I should have listened to myself because I got to Ft. Benning but the Ibanez never did. Yeah they paid for it... but still.
God bless.
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