There was a comm blackout (sniff, sniff), but J. managed to call long enough to wish E. Happy Birthday and tell me that the Team’s replacements should be arriving soon. Getting to talk about "the replacements" is always a bitter-sweet milestone for military wives. On the one hand, it signifies being inches away from a homecoming (yay!); on the other, we know that a group of families is getting ready to say goodbye and go through their own "longest year."
I asked J. (in general terms) about the comm blackout. As I had thought, someone was killed. I didn’t ask for details; J. didn’t know him, but he knew the guys who did know him. I asked J. what the Army does in Iraq to memorialize these men; it felt like a silly question, but I wondered if there were always flags at half-staff around. He said they do a memorial service, and put out the soldier’s gun, boots, and helmet as a memorial. I remembered seeing pictures alluding to this. I asked if he’d been to any memorials; he answered "several." For some reason, that hadn’t even occurred to me. J. is good about living in the present, but I can’t help but wonder how much a year’s worth of danger and death has changed him. I guess we’ll see.
Lacey says
Your in my prayers.