Daddy's Friends

My girlfriends' (who is also an Army wife) son refers to all guys in uniform as his daddy's friends.  I guess he figured if they all liked each other enough to coordinate outfits every day they must be friends.  ;)  Needless to say, somehow my family picked up on it and it has stuck.  It might have started when my kids were little and would see someone in uniform a ways off and think it was daddy before they could make out the face and I would explain, that no, it was just one of daddy's friends.  At any rate, my husband has a lot of "friends." 

Not too long ago I joined my husband at a BBQ for his seminar at MCCC.  All the guys were in civilian clothes and kicking back, having a great time.  In just a few weeks they would graduate and head their separate ways.  One heading off to Korea, one heading to SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) school, one headed to Q course (special forces), and on and on.  They will be stationed at posts across the US and around the world, many of them will head out to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.  As I looked around I could not help but feel proud.  Here was a group of men who were will to give it all, up to and including their lives, to make a secure future for me and my children.  All these men were here of their own free will.  They were not drafted, they were not coerced, this is the path they chose.  They chose it with the knowledge that it may mean being wounded, maybe even killed, but that did not stop them. Most of them, in fact I would bet all of them, have lost a friend at this point in their careers, and yet still here they were.  Daddy has some of the best friends in the world. 

"For those who man the battle line the bugle whispers low, and freedom has a taste and price the protected never know."  -unknown