My Son Is A Soldier

My son has been in Kuwait for about 6 months now (he just returned from taking leave in Germany) and the longer he is gone, the more I appreciate his choice to join the Texas Army National Guard. At first, my wife and I were not very happy. He is our only son (okay he is not her son, but she raised him) and the idea of him going to the world's largest sandbox to man a base did not make us happy, not even if that base is considered "safe" by military standards. However, we let him chose his path and supported his decision. I am now at peace with that.

Kuwait is not Iraq, nor is it Afghanistan. He does not get shot at on a daily basis, however there are threats. Not very long ago, a local was caught trying to plant explosives on a military vehicle and my son has gone out to patrol areas outside Kuwait City that have not been overly pleasant.

We talk on the phone once in a while. He normally talks to my wife more than he does me...I am not really big on phone calls. Call it an occupational hazard. We do have some good conversations once in a while. Recently he thanked me for showing him how to use a "pro's and con's" list to make choices. He said it has been a big help. I think I cried. It was an honor for me to be thanked for something I showed him how to do.

It means a lot to me to see my son succeed. I never joined the military, even though I have a half brother who was in the Marines and my father was in the Army National Guard. He (my father) pushed for me to join, but I was too proud to let some crazy Drill Sargent yell at and hit me during basic training. My son took a while to get acclimated but he finally did. All the mind games they put you through made him a little upset but he figured it out by the time his "red" period was over. Once they moved into "white", he was completely comfortable with Army life.

I am proud of my son and his service. He took a lot of ribbing from some regular Army vets for joining the National Guard, but his goal was to do good things on American soil, like help out after a natural disaster or provide riot control after some civil unrest. He told me that he wished he was fully trained when Hurricane Katrina hit, because he wanted to go and help out there, but he had not gone to AIT yet, so that option was out.

I look forward to seeing our son again when he gets back to the states. He is not sure what the future will bring, but he is open to a lot of things. I hope we can have him stay with us for a little while before he moves on to his next assignment.

My son is a soldier.