Memorial Day

I have avoided talking about this topic too much because I was surprised at how much it effected me. My brother called on Good Friday to tell me the news that he had been crossleveled into another National Guard unit that was deploying this summer. I was shocked. I immediately hung up the phone and cried. Shortly after that, I left work to go shopping hoping that would make me feel better. It didn't work. I spent the rest of the weekend feeling like I was in a bubble watching everything go on around me and I wasn't really apart of it. It was hard to process what was about to happen and I didn't fully understand why I was so upset. I had seen Clay deploy twice before under much worse conditions than what he will be going into this time. I had also seen Shawn leave twice. But for some reason, it was always harder for me to see my brother leave than it was to see my husband leave. I have commented before on how far removed my life is now from the military lifestyle I led two years ago. So all I can figure is that I never expected to be faced with another deployment, even as the sister of a soldier, and it brought back a lot of feelings I wasn't prepared for.

I am proud of my brother. He didn't have to join the guard once he left active duty. He is currently going through pre-deployment training that will wrap up at the end of this week. Next month he will spend some time at Fort Hood for some more training before officially activating in July. The current plan is for his unit to head to the sand box some time in August. Now that I have time to process all of this, I am doing everything I can to be there for him and his wife. I know how hard it is to be the one left behind so I want to make sure Jenny has the support she needs.

So on this Memorial Day, make sure you thank a soldier. Also thank that soldier's family. Trust me when I say it will mean a lot to them.