Firefighter, reservist has conflicting calls to duty

CNN ^ | Tuesday, March 18, 2003

[WellsFargo94]

PORT JERVIS, New York (AP) -- In their rambling farmhouse in the mountains, 78 miles from her husband's New York City firehouse, Christine Dewhurst prays every night that her illness will somehow keep him from going to war.

"How many ways can you die for your country?" she asks, rocking their 6-month-old daughter, Julia. "Hasn't he seen enough death and destruction? Isn't serving in one catastrophe enough for one family?"

[WellsFargo94]

Say what you will, but this wife is being very selfish, especially when her husband states that she is the only thing holding him back. The Marines would have them get a family care plan in place for situations such as this. What does she do when he is away at the firestation working? Does she have family, friends, neighbors that help her? When her illness is in remission she sounds remarkably capable, especially if she is so physically active. Also, running to the media is especially sad, does she really think that she is the only wife, or this is the only family, with hardships? There are many more active duty families with more serious issues than this family faces. Flame away.

[scott91]

kind of cold. if my son could go in place of this man i'm sure he would. he has been called up but was told to wait.
this family has given enough. i will ask my son tonight. besides..........my sons name is michael. let me know if we can help.

[Conservababe]

I won't flame you. He is whipped for letting his wife talk to the media about him, methinks. LOL

[WellsFargo94]

"kind of cold. if my son could go in place of this man i'm sure he would. he has been called up but was told to wait. this family has given enough. i will ask my son tonight. besides..........my sons name is michael. let me know if we can help."

Sorry you think this is cold, but when I see families separated and a mom is left with three children, all home schooled, and one is confined to a wheelchair, needs to be tube feed, Mom has to get up throughout the night to clear an airway, and thinks nothing of it that her husband gets called up. Or another family with the wife having debilitating arthritis, again, no problem that hubby has to deploy.

I understand that this firefighter has seen a lot, and both have lost so many that they knew and cared about, but MS is not the end of the world.

God bless your Michael for his commitment and willingness to do a dirty job. God bless you for supporting him.

[FourPeas]

Our country has become soft. Yes, this is a terrible ordeal for the family. Yes, it involves sacrifice. I've heard similar stories from others who "feel" it's someone else's turn to go, that their husbands should be exempt because of this or that. I find it ironic that they (she) decided to have a baby exactly because she believed war was coming.

Listening to my grandparents and in-laws about the sacrifices they made during WWII, I never once hear anyone say they tried to talk their husbands out of fighting for our country. I never hear anyone say they didn't think it was "fair" that their family members were called to fight. At 17, my grandmother was left with a three month old baby (my mother) when her 21 year old husband of just more than a year went off to war. I've never once heard her utter anything that sounded even remotely like a complaint about it.

This woman obviously doesn't think things through. She "feels". She needs to stop watching Oprah and start thinking.

[scott91]

you can't suck enough for your attitude.

[WellsFargo94]

Thank you for your understanding. I'm shocked that this Marine isn't telling his wife what's going on. I had the flu so bad that I couldn't get up and my 2 year old was running all over the house. I called hubby at the office to ask him to come home (he was in command at the time) and his reply was, "Call a friend or deal with it".

You are absolutely right about the WWII folks, they were proud to make sacrifices for the good of the country and the troops. They had some tough issues to deal with.

[nmh]

No flames here. You are dead right.

[Servant of the Nine]

"How many ways can you die for your country?" she asks, rocking their 6-month-old daughter, Julia. "Hasn't he seen enough death and destruction? Isn't serving in one catastrophe enough for one family?"

Instead of whining, she should have gotten him to get out.
They cashed the checks, it's time for her to shut up and time for CNN to stop running this kind of drivel.

So9