(Ramstein Germany) While hubby Troy is working as a flight nurse flying missions into enemy territory bringing back the injured from the field of battle and helping defend our country, his wife Julie, their little girl Hallie Reese and Julie’s best friend Tracy are making the best out of the situation and touring the country side visiting such places as Paris and Berlin and Kaiserslautern and Heidelberg and many other places I cannot spell.
I got an email from Julie on September 21, the day after my birthday, wishing me a belated happy birthday. She wrote that she and Tracy celebrated my birthday without me.
I smiled.
Both Julie and Tracy are my friends from Oklahoma City. Julie has put her career on hold to move overseas with daughter Hallie Reese for a few years to be with her husband who has been assigned in Germany. Tracy has taken a couple of weeks off to visit her friends.
All of them are a long way from home tonight.
As we all watch the news here in the states of a collapsing economy, most everybody seems to be pointing the blame for our plight at someone else. In the meantime, the political attack ads are running at full force.
One can’t help but think our nation is truly divided.
We all need to remember that there really is just one America. Thousands of servicemen like Troy are putting their lives on the line on a regular basis to defend the country we love. And almost 3,000 US servicemen have sacrificed their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. Additionally, thousands of spouses and children like Julie and Hallie have put their lives on hold and are sacrificing much in the process.
By the way, there are Republicans and Democrats sacrificing.
For the sake of those who have sacrificed their lives and all those who are sacrificing for our country, wouldn’t it be nice if all the attack ads ended and the candidates took the rest of this campaign to discuss the issues at hand in a civilized manner?
I suppose that is probably too much to ask.
There is no doubt we have a huge threat as the terrorists, who believe it is their God’s will to destroy America, look for ways to carry out their mission. And there is no doubt our economy is in a complicated total mess.
But sometimes I wonder if our greatest threat is from within.
1 comment:
Bruce, thanks for writing about the sacrifices of military families. My son and daughter-in-law are both active duty Air Force. My DIL is currently serving in Korea (for a year) while my son is at their home in Florida serving at Hurlburt Field. The biggest job for my son is being Daddy to their 2 year old son Dillon. God bless all the men and women of the armed forces and their families.
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