Got a call from my son last night.  He is heading to Iraq on Tuesday and could be there for up to a year.  He only joined the Army in January and has only been at his stateside permanant duty assignment for 3 weeks.  

That's some serious life changes to deal with in just 5 months.  Going from civilian status to Iraq in that short a time.  He was upbeat about it though.  His unit was already deployed to Iraq when he got there so all he has done for the last 3 weeks is inprocess and cut grass.  At least he'll be able to catch up with them and do what he was trained to do.

The only downside to all this is that he'll show up in Iraq as an FNG and not know anybody and nobody will know him.  The upside is he'll get some real job expertise (combat engineer) and I'm sure he'll have some great and interesting stories to tell when he gets back.

I felt pretty helpless when all I could do was tell him to be carefull and not do anything stupid or silly.  

Good advice.

prayers sent

I salute your son for his service.  You and he have my best wishes for his safe return.

trw-
God Bless your son for his service to his--and our--country.
i know how you feel.  my nephew just got back from iraq on tues.  his unit--1st lar, 1st marine division--was the first in country and he saw alot of things we never heard about.
one thing he did see was the genuine happiness of the vast majority of the iraqi people to be liberated.
tell your son to do what his superiors tell him to and he'll be fine.
all our prayers go out to him and all those defending freedom throughout the world.

earlybirdnj

His chain of command and NCO Support Channel will take care of him.  What he's going through is the same as many MANY before him.



Back in '94 things over here in Korea were getting real heated.  

So much so that I called my Dad to give him a heads-up that my first name on my I.D. tags was misspelled, so if the tags he receives show that (as in I'm KIA), he'll know it's me.

As we ended the call, I asked him if, as a Korean War combat vet, he had any advice for me.

[i]"Yeah"[/i] he says, [i]"If you see an oriental guy with a long overcoat walking south .... SHOOT HIM."[/i]


Chris

To all:  Thanks for your prayers and kind words.  I know he'll do just fine.  He's a smart, good kid.  I guess these are just the normal parental apprehensions I am going through.  

My daughter is over there right now(M88) driving gas,ammo,and maybe your son(troops)!

A dad allways worries about their young!  Just as I am typing this my phone rings,I answer it and say hello again and again nothing hang up!

Happens twice more then my daughter Poppy says hello dad,damn she has a cell phone that has e_mail capabilitys but can't use it in Iraq.

So shes going from Bagdad to Kiwait and in Kiwait she can call me!   Says she has gotten two of the three packages I sent her,and jumped on the pouches of tuna I sent her like a cat!

I allways send her chopenhagen for her Texas truck driver friend from Houston as all he can get in the PX is scoll!    Its 8:58 here in Oklahoma and 4:30 there in Kuwait,and 130 deg!


Anyway this just about(hell no made my day) and know you will be getting such a thrill soon when your son contacts you soon!  

God bless your family and son!

 Bob [:D]

Good luck and God Bless. I can understand what you're going through. He'll do fine, but your always going to worry, it's part of being a parent.
My son wants to sign up and go with out finishing high school. He has one more year. Then he can go.
Of course I'll worry. Take care and I'll keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

Tell your son thankyou from the botton of our hearts. He will have no problem making buddies over there. As for what you could do. Go buy him a digital camera today, make him take it, make him send pics to you, and you post them here!!!!

Rob

Thank your son for my family too, and once you have his address over there send it to me and I can send him a care package.

GunLvr

TRW, I can relate to what you're going through. Seems like just yesterday I was watching my son play high school baseball. He is at Ft. Benning right now in Airborne School just passed Ground Week. He arrives back in Louisville on 7 June and then flies out 11 June for England to participate in ROTC exchange program with British. 20 college ROTC scholarship students across the US get selected each summer to train with British at Strensall (sp?) Army Base.
He is taking Arabic as foreign language so probably no question where he will go when he commissions upon graduation.
Point being, as a parent it is a significant change for us to deal with. Having said that, your son is doing what makes him happy. He will make friends/buddies in a short time when he arrives in Iraq.
                   
TRW, tell your son to take care, we are proud of him, and I'll keep him in my prayers.