Today’s New York Times features a photograph of soldiers phoning home from Iraq.
My son this summer before he deployed to Iraq
I feel cheered and churned when I get those calls.
My emotions don’t resemble “300”‘s Queen Gorgo , who tells her her husband, the Spartan king, “Come home with your shield or on it.”
Lena Headley plays the wife of Spartan King Leonides in “300”.
I am not Volumnia, the mother figure in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, who tells her daughter-in-law, “had I a dozen sons, I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.”
But as a mom whose son chose to serve in the US military, I understand that my son is following his passion.
My son studying a medal he was awarded
I respect the courage and discipline that he and his fellow soldiers are showing in going into a war zone.
I recognize the need for troops in some situations, given that we are not living in a perfect world.
The 143rd Field Artillery’s farewell ceremony at Camp Roberts, California, earlier this summer
So, for me, it’s not about ending the war in Iraq just so my son come can home.
I know he’s likely going to be there for 12, 15, perhaps 18 months.
What bothers me is that there are no guarantees that the troops won’t be sent right back for a second or third tour No guarantees that they’ll get a break that’s at least as long as the time they’ve just served.
No guarantees of adequate care for veterans or adequate, functioning equipment for active soldiers.
And then there’s the fact that the US had no business invading Iraq in the first place.
Every day, I think about my son and what he is experiencing and what his presence in Iraq means for the Iraqi people, the US and the rest of the world.
Every day, I wonder if today, maybe, he’s going to be able to call home.
Every day, I hope that this nation will have the courage to talk about bringing our troops home.
And most of all I hope that one day I’ll be able to drink tea with my son in the garden, again.
.