VIEWPOINT: Saying Goodbye To Your Soldier And Hello To Your New Military Family
by ABC-7 Executive Producer Kristine Rivers
Saying goodbye was hard. I had a knot in my stomach that wouldn’t go away and tears streaming down my face. As adults, there are very few feelings that you don’t recognize, that you haven’t felt before. This was one of them. It was a very unnatural feeling. Something I don’t think people are preprogrammed to feel. It was a painful feeling, that I suspect won’t fully go away until I can wrap my arms around my husband again.
The whole evening was very surreal. Families gathered in a gym on post socialized and said their goodbyes to their friends. There were a lot of hugs and a lot of laughs. Some nervous laughs and some belly laughs, which were good to hear!
The senior leadership have it hard. Not only do they have to deal with leaving their families, but they have to do their best to make everyone else feel like their loved ones will come home safe. It’s something our soldiers’ leaders did well. This group of men and women is commanded by a great team, with great support at home, and I have every confidence they will lead our soldiers safely through this deployment. God bless ‘um!
After the farewell ceremony, I went to a friend’s house whose husband also left that night. She was gracious enough to hug me and let me cry, and strong enough to not let my tears get her going. We made s’mores with her son and laughed, and it made all the difference in the world. I’m sure she didn’t think I was going to stay for five hours (sorry!), but I wanted to make sure I was tired when I got home so I didn’t have the energy to throw myself a pity party. That won’t help anything.
I’m sure many people reading this have heard the term “military family.” Before I was a part of it, I heard it, but didn’t understand it. When you join, marry into or are born into the military, you truly get a new family, your military family.
One of the hardest decisions for a new military wife to make is to stay put or go home and stay with family during a deployment. A lot of spouses go and a lot stay put…it is whatever is best for you. I am a firm believer you can’t be anywhere you aren’t meant to be. Some spouses stay for jobs or because they don’t want to pull their kids out of school. I stayed for work. I was worried because I don’t have family here…they are all in the Midwest. But, I quickly realized, I do have family here. They are the other wives in the unit. They call to make sure I’m doing okay and they send e-mails offering a shoulder to cry on. I could count the conversations I’ve had with some of these women on two hands, but, I don’t question an ounce of their sincerity. They are priceless and I hope they know they can also always count on me for a shoulder in return. The military family is an amazing thing.
Go to ABC-7’s Troop Support page for previous viewpoints and for ABC-7 stories on Fort Bliss.
