Sacrifice In The Military

It is 0330 Monday morning, he grabbed his rucksack and loaded it in the car, while I woke the kids to get them dressed the day that we did not want to arrive had. I had these same mornings at least three times before. Standing outside of his unit in the chilly morning air, I again had to witness and live through moments that so many of us in the military community are accustomed to seeing. As my soldier was saying goodbye to our children, I took a moment to look around to see other husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, even some brothers and sisters doing the same. There was laughing and joking, smiling and crying, but everyone felt a deep sense of hurt and pain that they could not describe nor show at that particular moment. Soon there would …show more content…
I recognize that we also give up time with our loved ones, and that our lifestyle means that we sometimes have to modify our dreams or give some if not all up altogether. Merriam-Webster’s defines sacrifice as the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone. I am reminded again that service members everywhere continue to sacrifice one of the most precious gifts we are given in life: time with the ones we love. But some words just “feel” different to me. Sacrifice is one of those …show more content…
My husband is not currently deployed, but I will never forget the look in his eyes at every departure. He wanted to run and comfort our children and me, but instead he forced himself to stand strong and walk away. There are people who cannot even be away from their significant other for 1 day or a week, but military children, spouses and soldiers themselves give their loved one up for at least a year at a time, and with the knowledge there is a chance they may never come home. While I know that none of us are assured tomorrow, when a service member deploys they are knowingly walking away from the people they love with less of a guarantee than the rest of us. Even though my husband was one of the fortunate ones to make it home after each deployment, he is not the same man that I married so many years ago, there is anger when there should be happiness, there is forgetfulness when it should be remembered, there is a distance in his eyes that was never there before. You see a soldier dies a little at a time inside, before, during and after each deployment. They are never the same but if you asked, they would say “yes” I will go