When mommy goes off to war, it's rough on kids [sickening]

The Seattle Times ^ | 11/28/06 | Donna St. George

[XR7]

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — When they called her name, she could not move. Sgt. Leana Nishimura intended to walk up proudly, shake the dignitaries' hands and accept their honors for her service in Iraq — a special coin, a lapel pin, a glass-encased U.S. flag.

But her son clung to her leg. He cried and held tight...T.J. was 9, her oldest child, and although eight months had passed since she had returned from the war zone, he was still upset by anything that reminded him of her deployment...

The faraway move to live with his grandmother. The months that went by without his mother's kisses or hugs, without her scrutiny of homework, her teasing humor, her familiar bedtime songs.

Nishimura was a single mother — with no spouse to take over, to preserve her children's routines, to keep up the family apartment.

Of her three children, T.J. seemed to worry most... "He went from having one parent to having no parents, basically," Nishimura said, reflecting. "People have said, 'Thank you so much for your sacrifice.' But it's the children who have had more of a sacrifice."

When war started in Iraq, a generation of U.S. women became involved as never before — in a wider-than-ever array of jobs, for long deployments, in a conflict with daily bloodshed. More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented.

How these women have coped and how their children are managing have gone little noticed as the war stretches across a fourth year...

"I tell [the children] that if God needs Mommy to go ... then Mommy's going to have to go again and they're going to have to let me."

[stevie_d_64]

No prob bob...

Looks like this things quieted down somewhat...

It is a shame that it did develop like it did...

Some people, even the ones that might even agree with us from time to time on other issues, seem to forget certain aspects and the sacrifices that folks who serve make everyday...

And whats funny, is that we may not like it, but thats what makes us strive to do it even better than some would believe at first...

[XR7]

	or

	Are We America's Warriors? Trained to kill another human being in an extremely hostile environment that does not grant privilege or leniency to those who do not 'measure up.' No society has ever survived which depended upon its female members to defend it. Nor will our American experiment with a special form of democracy -- our unique and fragile Constitutional Republic. Will our willingness to experiment with equality where none exists  imperil our nation's ability to survive the threat of a determined and resourceful enemy?

	Are We America's Mothers? The nurturers and civilizing influence on our children's lives, especially our boys. The necessary complement to aggressive men in a civilization which prides itself in the balancing of individual freedom with equality. A civilization founded by Christian men and women who, together, raised it to a state of prosperity beyond any civilization in the history of man. A civilization based on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the complementarity of man and woman as the basis for a stable, solid and enduring family unit.

Exhaustive Resource List: Women in Combat http://wwwresearcher.com/women/women-in-combat.html