Praying for Rob

I was in a funky, foul mood a few days ago. One of my good friends, Dena, received word that her husband, Rob, was severely injured in Afghanistan. Rob and Jason served together in Iraq during Jason's last deployment, as well as Ft. Riley, KS. As of yesterday, Dena and her daughters were living at Ft Hood, TX while Rob made his THIRD trip to the "sandbox".... albeit this time in Afghanistan.

Rob is the type of man that one admires. He is never afraid to "Lead from the front." He even scoffed at the idea of staying behind, at Ft Hood, while his unit deployed. Dena, having just had her 2nd baby, was hoping that Rob would choose to stay behind. After all, he had earned it: hardly anyone in his unit had deployed before, and this would have been his THIRD year away from his family. I think this is exactly why Rob decided that he could not leave his "brothers-in-arms." Rob is a seasoned soldier. I always found it almost a paradox that Rob, being this "trained killer", was such a tender father to his daughters. He "endured" endless tea parties, make-up applications, and "pedicures" from his 7-year-old daughter. I even admired how gentle he was with my daughter, Faith- always making sure she had a clean towel to wipe her face with after sticky barbecues at their house.

Dena had an ominous feeling before this deployment. After all, how many times can one man roll the dice before his number comes up? Army wives never comfort each other by promising that nothing will go wrong. We comfort each other by promising to pray as hard as we can. Before Rob left, he promised Dena that he would be okay. "I don't mind losing limbs, just make sure I'm not left a vegetable."

That was almost four months ago. Four days ago, Dena received the phone call that sent her world spinning. Rob had been injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while patrolling in Afghanistan. Since he was the closest to the blast, his body took the most force. Rob is currently fighting for his life in Landstuhl, Germany. He has lost both legs, a finger, sustained a brain injury, and has his jaw wired shut. Dena is praying that she will be able to keep the promise she made to her husband before he deployed...

I called a good friend up a few days ago, and I was mad as hell. (She's one of my good civilian friends with no relatives in the military, and I wanted her input.) WHY isn't this war affecting the American people as a whole? Where are the victory gardens, the pooling together of resources that we saw in WWII ? Does anyone help, other than if you have a friend or family member in the service? Does anyone care? Stacey assured me that people DO CARE, but they just DON'T KNOW. They don't know what they can do to help. Well, that makes sense.

So, this November, please take time to thank a veteran. Take a lonely wife out to lunch. Offer to watch her kids so that she can go shopping. Cut her grass as a favor.

AND BE SURE TO VOTE!