Here's a little snippet of an IM conversation I had with my pregnant sister, whose husband is in the 101st Airborne and just left for Kuwait:

[Sister] says:
Can you imagine what it's like for kids who have to say goodbye to their parent (s) to go to war?

Stuart Buck says:
Must be absolutely awful

* * *

[Sister] says:
There's a mom at my church whose husband left last Sat. She has a 3.5 year old girl, a almost 2 yr old boy, and is due with anotther girl in June. Her kids are so proud of their dad.....they were telling me their daddy was "going to war in Iraq". It was so sad. . . . I wish you could have seen this little girl....big blue eyes, curly blonde hair framing her face, very serious expression. I almost cried watching her.