An Article from a family friend Margaret published in a Up and Coming Magazine.
If anyone ever asks, I will have to confess to tearing up as I watched and read news coverage of the return of soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard's 30th Heavy Separate Brigade.
But my tears were next to nothing compared to the emotion of these returning soldiers and the loved ones who waited with nerve-shearing anticipation for them to walk - exhausted and probably a bit smelly and dirty - into their arms. Sweethearts and spouses embraced for the first time in months, sometimes tentatively, sometimes with the level of enthusiasm which translates into "I could just eat you up!" Aging parents gazed at returning adult children with both love and respect, understanding that these soldiers back on United States soil are not the same people they raised and bade goodbye early last year. They have had experiences their parents, or anyone else except those who were with them, will not and cannot ever really know.
Most touching of all, though, were children seeing parents they may not really remember. Little hands reached for the daddy or mommy whose presence seemed vague until the moment their eyes and bodies touch, and then, miraculously, all seems well and normal again. Some children held back, sometimes literally behind some trusted adult, as the returning parent came into view. Others leapt and levitated to get close to that long-gone father or mother. I saw one little girl, a preschooler or maybe a kindergartener, shyly offering a drawing for her returning soldier father to inspect as he held her in his arms. Some just cried from a mixture of confusion, apprehension, and sheer joy. It was almost more than a mother could bear to watch.
These are scenes, of course, which have played out millions of times as soldiers have returned from war time deployments all over the world and which have occurred thousands of times in our own community. But this return struck me especially because the returning soldiers were not active duty military personnel but National Guard troops who had put aside their chosen careers and civilian lives to serve our nation. Most, though not all, are North Carolinians. Many, though not all, are years past their school days and have hair flecked with a little gray. They are our families and friends, our neighbors in communities throughout our state.
The members of the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade are just beginning the process of reassembling the normal, civilian lives they never expected to leave for nearly a year. In some cases, their livelihoods may be vastly changed or even gone. I think specifically of a young couple from outside Raleigh who had started a Mom and Pop heating and air conditioning business. He did the labor. She kept the books. Did that fledging company survive?
They are also re-learning their families. Children have passed from diapers to big-boy pants, from cribs to big girl beds. They have moved up a grade. Spouses have gone through many experiences, good and bad, alone. Neighbors have moved and people have died. There is much to share.
There is also much to consider about how our nation uses the people who were once called "weekend warriors" but who have become far more than that. For now, though, this community, North Carolina, and the entire nation says only "welcome home, thank you, and happy new year" as the members of the 30th start blending back into their precious American lives.
If anyone ever asks, I will have to confess to tearing up as I watched and read news coverage of the return of soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard's 30th Heavy Separate Brigade.
But my tears were next to nothing compared to the emotion of these returning soldiers and the loved ones who waited with nerve-shearing anticipation for them to walk - exhausted and probably a bit smelly and dirty - into their arms. Sweethearts and spouses embraced for the first time in months, sometimes tentatively, sometimes with the level of enthusiasm which translates into "I could just eat you up!" Aging parents gazed at returning adult children with both love and respect, understanding that these soldiers back on United States soil are not the same people they raised and bade goodbye early last year. They have had experiences their parents, or anyone else except those who were with them, will not and cannot ever really know.
Most touching of all, though, were children seeing parents they may not really remember. Little hands reached for the daddy or mommy whose presence seemed vague until the moment their eyes and bodies touch, and then, miraculously, all seems well and normal again. Some children held back, sometimes literally behind some trusted adult, as the returning parent came into view. Others leapt and levitated to get close to that long-gone father or mother. I saw one little girl, a preschooler or maybe a kindergartener, shyly offering a drawing for her returning soldier father to inspect as he held her in his arms. Some just cried from a mixture of confusion, apprehension, and sheer joy. It was almost more than a mother could bear to watch.
These are scenes, of course, which have played out millions of times as soldiers have returned from war time deployments all over the world and which have occurred thousands of times in our own community. But this return struck me especially because the returning soldiers were not active duty military personnel but National Guard troops who had put aside their chosen careers and civilian lives to serve our nation. Most, though not all, are North Carolinians. Many, though not all, are years past their school days and have hair flecked with a little gray. They are our families and friends, our neighbors in communities throughout our state.
The members of the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade are just beginning the process of reassembling the normal, civilian lives they never expected to leave for nearly a year. In some cases, their livelihoods may be vastly changed or even gone. I think specifically of a young couple from outside Raleigh who had started a Mom and Pop heating and air conditioning business. He did the labor. She kept the books. Did that fledging company survive?
They are also re-learning their families. Children have passed from diapers to big-boy pants, from cribs to big girl beds. They have moved up a grade. Spouses have gone through many experiences, good and bad, alone. Neighbors have moved and people have died. There is much to share.
There is also much to consider about how our nation uses the people who were once called "weekend warriors" but who have become far more than that. For now, though, this community, North Carolina, and the entire nation says only "welcome home, thank you, and happy new year" as the members of the 30th start blending back into their precious American lives.
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
suiclide:
i will for sure, keeping myself safe is number one. but i will save my brother if thats what i have to do. don't have to worry about it too much longer cause i should be getting off my year tour here real soon, so i will do my best
vuokko:
Probably. I don't see why not.