My older brother and I went to war, but I never thought about what our parents felt. When my son’s unit was called to war, Iraqi Freedom, my wife and I joined the Family Support Group for his company. My son didn’t know anything about war. Their training was intense for the type of combat they would experience. The US military trains troops to be able to fight a war. But the impact of war can only experienced first hand. All the troops were 18 to 30 years old and none had ever experienced the string of battle. Their bravado was strong, but I saw the fear of the unknown in their faces. You can’t teach how you will react in the middle of battle. All you can do is train and let muscle memory take over in combat.
While our son was deployed, my wife and I stayed busy with supporting troops with care packages of food and any other needs. We live in southwest Louisiana. The number one request for food items was Tony Chachere seasoning in the individual packets. The second request was Community Coffee, dark roast. We sent individual packages for each birthday in the company. We stayed busy because it was a shooting war. Out of the 150 members of the company, 36 were killed in Iraq and there were more wounded. While he was there, we were able to live video link with our son on Facebook. When I saw him, he had lost weight and had a serious look to him. He came home on his two week vacation during 4th of July. We went to the park to see the fireworks and every time an overhead bomb went off, he would jump. It was the ravages of war.
Before he was deployed, we had a serious discussion about death. Not only were we concerned for his safety, but that he would be seeing death up close and personal. My wife and I had to place him in the hands of God for his safety and our own sanity. While he was there, his best friend was killed. That morning his captain allowed him to call home. I answered and the first thing I asked was are you wounded. He said no, it is worst. He couldn’t tell me over the phone, but I figured it out. He took it hard and began to feel guilty for surviving. The effects of war are not only on the soldier, but on his family. It took a while for our son to transition from combat to regular life. The effects of war.
We survived and he came home. 2 more sons served in the military, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. It has been 20 years since they served and we are still feeling the effects of the war, but thank God not as much. I was watching soldier’s family reunions on Youtube and it all came flooding back.
Crain Blanchard.
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