The Time My Dad Had Gotten Deployed

I have always wanted to be like my dad. He is my hero because he helps save the world. It can be very tough on families that have children whose parents have to leave for military deployment. I had to go through this, and the military made it difficult for my family when they gave notice to us about my dad going on leave. My dad had chosen to go into the military because he wanted to help protect the country, and he loves helping other people. He had always dreamed of going into the military, and now he was on his second tour. Deployment in the military forces families like mine to go through a transition, but it can show how much someone truly can be your hero because of it.

My dad had been deployed before I was even two years old, so I didn’t truly understand the concept of deployment at that point. When he was deployed for the second time, and I was six years old, we noticed he was leaving us. When we got told, we just sat there for a second because we didn’t know really what that meant, then my parents went into more depth explaining that our dad had to leave for a period of time. Once my parents had explained that, I went to my room because I didn’t understand why they chose my dad because I didn’t know he was up for his tour. My parents slowly talked about the specifics of his deployment to us every little bit of the day, so we could understand that he was leaving us for a period of time. We finally found out that my dad was leaving for fourteen months and that he was being stationed in a small country called Kuwait. My dad’s job was to check the tanks each day and the guns to see if anything was in the shot way or if there was anything backed up in it. He also would keep watch for intruders.

The day my dad actually left was worse than I pictured it to be. Families never actually realize how hard it is leaving someone until the day comes and the beginning months pass. I still remember standing in the airport and watching my dad walk away to his flight. We had to stay back of course and just watch him disappear. A few days passed, and we were just getting into a routine that we were comfortable with. He left in January 2009 before my mom’s birthday. We didn’t celebrate it on the actual day because he wouldn’t be here. She was an emotional wreck on her birthday because it was really different without my dad. A few months passed. We had gotten gifts from our dad such as build-a-bears and dog tags that had a note from him on the front of it. By this time it was April, my birthday month. I knew he wasn’t going to be there, so it was going to be different with him not helping me blow out the candles. I know I never really wanted to experience not having him around for special events. It really takes a lot out of you to where you don’t really know what to do with yourself. You’re clueless because not everybody is there that you want so it doesn’t even feel like a celebration.

Five months later, we had a lot of general life adjustments. My grandma had to come stay with us for a little bit because my mom had to work and couldn’t always be there for us because of her work hours; both sides of my grandparents stepped in. We missed our parents a lot. I could tell how much my mom missed my dad by being distance with us kids; she would sometimes stay in her room for the night instead of hanging out with us. In June, we finally got videotapes from my dad where he talked about the things he did, but also talked to us about what mom has told him about us and the accomplishments that we did in school. He showed us different souvenirs that he had gotten for us. He told us about the weather and how much he missed being at home because it was colder here than in Kuwait. It felt better finally being able to see him, but he looked different. I didn’t like that because he didn’t look like my dad that I knew before he left. I cried almost every time we watched the videos because all I wanted was to be in my dad’s arms and actually feel like I was at home again. Also, he talked to us and explained how we were getting a new puppy that we did not know about. This was one of the few joys that had happened while he was away from us. My mom and him agreed on it and picked her out together. We still missed him very much, and things still weren’t the same even after some months had passed. We know our mom couldn’t do everything, so we would help around the house such as cleaning it, do the dishes, laundry, put things away, etc. My sister was old enough to watch us kids and would soon take that over until my mom got home. My sister would also help us with homework and just make sure we got it done so we could help make dinner with our mom.

Military families can have a rough life, but they do have an outcome where their soldier is their hero and also the world’s as well. Things never became easier as the months passed, but once my dad came home earlier than his actual return date, it revealed to us that we were stronger than what we thought. We learned lessons but also knew parents can’t do everything on their own. Many changes can happen when you have a parent that has to leave for a while and everything gets thrown at the other parent while carrying a job and three kids. You have to understand that when you want to tell the person who's not there something badly, they still won’t be there. It is a lot of adjusting to not have a parent to go on field trips with or take you to practices. Deployment absences can definitely change you more than you thought they would.

Military Loved Ones

To all the military families that have gone through military tours or deployments know how difficult this can be to go through and not know what to do during it. This was my experience as I was in first grade and now I am nineteen-years-old in college. I still remember this clear as day and dreaded every moment of it.