The Original Firewater's blog: "Deployment 2007"

I am soooo relieved and pleased to announce that my son has decided against another deployment!!!!! HAPPY! HAPPY! JOY! JOY! As a mother, I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am!!! I guess he figured that 5 years of volunteering for deployment was long enough!!

No matter how prepared you may think you are, you never really know until the time. Things have been up in the air as to whether or not my son would deploy with his unit to Iraq on July 7th. Technically, he does not have to go, because he has already served 5 consecutive years on deployment status. (He volunteered to serve with other units that were in need of men when those units were deployed.) He just phoned me to say that a position has become available and he needs to make a decision by tomorrow morning as to whether or not he wishes to deploy back to Iraq with his unit that is now being called up for the first time. Things have been hanging in the balance over the past several months. Now as things get down to the wire and things are in the 11th hour, a decision needs to be made. I just don't know if I have it in me to do this again. It was so hard before. I lived for those phone calls and email that told me that he was still alive and alright. How can I possibly go through this again? As a mother, it was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Now I wait. I wait for his decision.

My son's unit received their blanket orders today. He will be deploying on June 10th and they leave on June 13th. And to think that 13 has always been my lucky number. Hmm.....I don't know what to say right now. I'm a mother and therefore think like one in times like these. I have been down this road before on his previous deployment to Iraq. I just don't know if my heart can take a second tour of duty!

Well here we go again.....My son received his pre-orders for deployment this last weekend. According to the pre-order the guys have been instructed to get all of their affairs in order, so that they can ship out sometime in June or July. I have already been through this once. Wasn't that enough for any mother's heart to endure? I just can't help but think that every time my son deploys, the odds are not in his favor statistic wise. As hard as it is for me to have my son deploy again, I think of all of the other mother's that were not as fortunate to have their children returned to them alive. Many times I have found myself thinking, "But for the grace of God, there go I." I live in a small rural area and we have had a large amount of casualties per capita in this area. So far all of the casualties have been from soldiers that were in Iraq and not Afghanistan. Unfortunately, when you live in an area this small, you always know the person or their family. This makes it exceptionally hard. Once again the families brace themselves for another deployment. These young men and women are the babies that we have watched grow up over the years. Many are still too young to even have their own families. Many have never purchased their first legal beer and yet they are adult enough to put a rifle in their hands. I just hope that my heart can take another round of this, but most of all, I hope that the odds are still in my son's favor while he is over there. The hardest thing that we have to do as a parent is learn to let go. As parents, we want to protect our children. It goes against all laws of nature for us to let go and let fate hold the reigns.