This story posted to Free Republic -- Why did the St. Pete Times interview this CA mother?
'Tell him his mom is here'Some may think Susan Galleymore went to great lengths to check on the condition of her son and the war in Iraq. She doesn't.
By BILL DURYEA, Times Staff Writer
Published May 9, 2004
---------------------------------------------------------------------Like a lot of parents, Susan Galleymore was nervous when her son, Nick, a 26-year-old Army Ranger with the 82nd Airborne, was sent to Iraq. Unlike most parents, she assuaged her anxiety by going to Iraq to visit him.
After the 10-day trip, Galleymore, 48, created a Web site (www.motherspeak.org) where she has recorded interviews with Iraqis and with other mothers of soldiers, both for and against the war. (She continues to post new interviews as they come in.)
Galleymore talked with the St. Petersburg Times about overprotective mothers, thinking for yourself, and how you can tell the difference between a concerned mother and a privatized military.
Times: When did you decide to visit Nick?
Galleymore: When he was deployed to Iraq I went into a lot of panic and not only that, anger, because I really believed that we had no right to go into Iraq in the way that we did.
It became a larger struggle to understand what my child would be doing over there, but also how to cope with the stress of it. I'm a single parent, so I don't have someone I can talk to about it.
I realized if I was going to stay relatively sane I needed to get help. What are other mothers experiencing? From there it became: What's going on with Iraqi mothers?
A military friend of the family told me that I could go to Iraq. He said when he was in Vietnam, there were a couple of times when parents showed up in Danang, where he was base commander. Obviously the military leadership don't like it, but they also can't tell you not to come. So I said, "Well, all right then." I had everything worked out within 10 days.
Times: Did you tell Nick to expect you?
Galleymore: He was on e-mail, but he was not getting information from me as quickly as I was developing it. When he did hear about it, he tried to discourage me. He didn't say I couldn't visit him. He just said, "Don't come to Iraq. It's too dangerous."
Times: Do you have a history of dropping in?
Galleymore: No, I'm the opposite of a protective mother. I grew up in an English household. We're very reserved. People have assumed I'm a woman who can't let go of her child. That's not the truth. The truth is, I'm a woman who's very concerned about the state of my child's health and the health of other children.
Times: It sounds like you're an independent thinker and fairly adventurous.
Galleymore: And I act on my principles. I needed to know what was going on there so I could make a stand, one way or the other. I was not able to do it with the information I was getting.
[SNIP]
Galleymore: I told him we were concerned about him, that his family loves him, we want him to be safe and healthy. I told him I want him to be aware of what he's doing in this country.[SNIP]
Galleymore: He was one part of the mission. There were two other arms of the mission. It was hard. You don't know what your kid is going to be up to, whether you're going to see him again. I was very grateful that I had seen him. It's hard to leave your kid behind in a place like that.---------------------------------------------------------------------
Prayerfully posted. The goal, the NEED, is to get Terri released to her family's care.
"People have assumed I'm a woman who can't let go of her child. That's not the truth. The truth is, I'm a woman who's very concerned about the state of my child's health"-- all should have been in bold.
May God give Terri's family wisdom in all they do, in all the decisions they must make moment by moment. May they KNOW that they are NEVER alone, there is NEVER a moment that someone somewhere is not lifting them up in prayer.