Click here: DefenseLink News Article: Blue Star Mothers Offer Constant Care

http://www.patriotguard.org/Home/tabid/53/Default.aspx

U.S. Army HOOAH 4 HEALTH Deployment Guide - The Emotional Cycle of Deployment: A Military Family Perspective

http://hooah4health.com/deployment/familymatters/emotionalcycle.htm

This is a great one from 2006 - use the PDF version and be sure to click the video in the story.

14 May2006:"Help on the Homefront"
The Sun News, SC (PDF version local copy click - HERE.)

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LINK TO CHANNEL 13 NEWS STORY FROM MARCH

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=31576292

 

I Am A Blue Star Mother

I am the mother of a United States Service Member.
My child gave me this title.
I will give him a heart full of wonder at his accomplishments and a voice that praises his desire to serve.
I will place my faith in his military training and in God’s protection I will give him the prayers that will follow him where I cannot.
I will be strong when I want to cry and brave when I want to cower.
He will know that I am behind him every step of the way.
Because I bear the title of Mother of a United States Service Member.

The "story" behind the picuture is , Captain (now Major) Mark Lenhart standing atop a humvee at a "displaced families camp" north of Baghdad passing our stuffed animals to the kids there, Spring of 2005.  The stuffed animals had all been donated by employees of a private company in the U.S. Eleven boxes were mailed to Mark and the reaction of the Iraqi children was indescribable.  Another picture showing some of the "good" things being done!

Normal

People who don't have children in a war zone cannot fully understand what we go through every second of every day.  Our life is no longer what we used to consider normal. Now normal is watching TV news and flipping back and forth between CNN and Fox.  Having the radio AND TV on so you don't miss anything.  It's reading the paper for any details; it's seeing something in a store that makes you cry, or having someone say, "how are you?" and it brings you to tears.  It's checking your email at 2, 4, 5, 6 am just in case.... It's seeing the flag and knowing that is the symbol of America that is sewn on the soldiers' uniforms, the symbol they are making a stand for.  It's tying yellow ribbons to anything that will stand still.  It's wearing the picture of your son over your heart and you reach up and touch it without even being aware of it.  And you pray.  And you remember the little boy who you would not even allow to cross the street by himself. And you pray. That is our "normal." When the soldiers return, they will never be the same.  But neither will we. We will have grown and found strength within us that we never knew we had.  And we have made the best of friends with others who carry a piece of our heart in theirs. Sgt. Melissa K. Dion and Sgt. Johanna Landry met Sec. of State Condolessa Rice on their return home from Iraq, on a stop over in Shannon, Ireland. Feb. 2005