Ticking Time Bomb

You know how I mentioned the ticking time bomb of a military family? The on again, off again routine, well here is what I was talking about. . . .

Two weeks ago, John confirmed that his temporary transfer back to his old unit would not be going through, so he would not be deployed to Iraq with them. John is on a back up list in case of injury or anything else that might cause a soldier to not be able to be deployed. His new unit is on the schedule to be deployed in November 2010, so we were put back on the sit and wait.

Guess what, John got a call on Friday verifying his eligibility to be deployed and that he would be put on the list with a unit out of Chisholm needing soldiers to complete their unit for deployment. We will be notified by February 6th as to whether or not they are being deployed and when.

This is where the frustration starts to set in and the mind struggle to not complain. I did willingly marry into this life knowing my husband is part of the military. The problem I am having is that you mentally prepare for this, start to discuss with the kids about Daddy leaving and then it is taken away. Then, put all back into your life a couple of weeks later.

My kids refer to war and Daddy leaving as "die", "bad", "guns", there is no good response that is given to me as a Mom and it is so hard to comfort their minds and change their interpretation to the good side of this. Maybe I don't even know the good side and that is why I am having such a hard time.

John is just as frustrated, do you just go and get it over with or hope that the pushing of paper delays any chance of being deployed. It is no less painful for him, he misses a full year of his family, the milestones, the heartache, the holidays, and everything else that can happen in 365 days.

To look at the good side of it, as of today, he is not going to Iraq and we have discontinued even preparing for it. We are planning Max's birthday in March, Easter and our Anniversary, just taking it day by day.

I will keep you posted as we know more on John's deployment. Stay safe!