When she came home from her first tour of duty, I had never felt such relief before, it felt kinda like the day she was born, after the long wait, the whole situation changes in an instant. The whole parent thing is hard, the deep feelings that can develope, a whole different kind of love than the one I share with the wife. And, let me tell ya, when she got on that plane headed for Iraq, the rush of emotion, from being the proudest dad, to being the scaredest one at the same time is hard. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider my little girl in a war, the contrast between her little soccer outfit, and all the gear, the huge assault weapon, the boots, the whole Army set-up, you just never get used to how fast they grow up, I don't anyway. That tour went rather well, she was a weapons specialest, and ran the base supply, she made seargent, had access to the internet, so we kept in touch all the time. The worst part was when they got shelled during dinner, and the soldier right next to her caught some fragments in the butt, but thank god no body was killed. And, it's kinda scary how much a war can change a person.  I don't know, though, growing from a kid, to a full blown adult in about a year has to be hard too. Even though she was 22 when she enlisted, she was still a kid to me.

This tour is different though, I've hardly had any contact with her, they work her 16 hours a day, she's the only one running supply for the whole base, but before she left she trained another 2 people to fill in while she came home, so now they're kinda part time help, which was good cause as soon as she got back she had to inventory everything, while handing out guns and ammo, and the past few months she's been packing stuff for the pullout, so she's too trashed at the end of the day to even e-mail me. But, hey, it's cool. But, now, that feeling is back, she's supposed to be home at the end of this month, but not hearing from her is troubling. Especially, now that the insergents are blowing stuff up again. The things we parents go through.