not all roses

So compared to fifty years ago, communication with deployed family members in the military is much more advanced.  Satellite phones, skype, internet, and emails all transmit messages instantly over half the circumference of the globe to enable a stream of thought that in previous wars was unheard of.   

All that is true.  But still. It doesn't feel like enough.  I miss my husband. 

 Because i've had to finish school four hours away from where we are stationed, coupled with the amount of time Bo is gone for different training schools, we have dealt with being long distance for the majority of our relationship.   It's not fun, but you grit your teeth and push through because you know its for a greater good and its not going to last forever.   Those days felt easier though with the constant communication that was at our disposal.   Going from that to just a couple times a week (and we can't skype) feels like deprivation.

I was reading again about the situation in southern Afghanistan and now the Swat region of Pakistan.  The Taliban is gaining more control in the countryside and has taken a sizeable bite out of Afghanistan's bordering country.  Although Obama is promising to send more troops to help keep the country from slipping back into the Taliban's control, many don't think the numbered 30,000 troops will even begin to be enough.  Afghani locals are apathetic at best towards their government and even the NATO troops that have promised to bring reform to their country but are now finding their hands tied as they try to back that promise up.   For the troops i can't imagine how frustrating it must be as they spend all their resources to shore up control of the main cities only to see the country side and the very people they are risking their lives for wind up in Taliban hands.    Unless Obama and the rest of NATO steps up with more troops and more resolve to see this thing out, we are fighting a losing battle.

I am incredibly proud of my husband and the job he is doing in southern Afghanistan as a PJ. Not only is he one of the highest trained operators out there, he is ready and willing to do whatever necessary to get the job done. He believes in defending the freedoms we hold so dear and enabling the oppressed to have the opportunity for those same freedoms.  The sacrifices every single man and woman who is deployed, has been deployed, or has a loved one deployed cannot be just for wishful thinking.  Lets do the job.  If we truly do "hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal," we can't do this thing half-way.   

What is our sacrifice worth, if, in the end, it accomplishes nothing?