"If the Army wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one!"

When the two pilots prepared to leave my home, I thanked them for their service to our country. One of them had a request.

“Everyone talks about praying for the troops,” he said, “but I would request they include our families in their prayers. Our wives are trying to care for children and homes under great stress. (Wiry fellow) has just discovered his dad has terminal cancer. We often feel we are not there when we are most needed.”

He is right, We need to lift the families of our troops in prayer, but I am not sure that is enough. We should extend our support to provide something more concrete – a couple of hours a week babysitting so the parent can have some respite, providing a casserole for an evening meal, taking the family members out to lunch and letting them voice their concerns – whatever can be done to make life easier for the family member left behind so the service member can concentrate more fully on his / her job.

Deployment is very hard for the families who live on military facilities but they at least have people around them who are in a similar situation. It is never easy to say farewell to your loved one for a year or more at a time, no matter how accustomed to it you are. Service members who live in the community and have been deployed with Reserve or National Guard units leave behind families that are suddenly immersed in a new environment. Nevetheless, these families have a whole community that should rally around them and assist as needed.

DD, who lives at Ft. Hood, was eight months pregnant when she got a notice in the heat of the summer that her grass HAD to be mowed IMMEDIATELY. I went to help her, but even the two of us, pulling with all our might, couldn't get the lawnmower to start. What a wonderful surprise when a church group arrived the next day. All the members went in groups, door to door, offering to help with whatever was needed. Energetic young people mowed lawns, helped clean houses, weeded flowerbeds, played with children, whatever the individual homemaker needed was performed with a smile and enthusiasm.

We will continue to pray. Prayers are wonderful, but sometimes action speaks louder than words.

"They also serve who only stand and wait. " - John Milton