God bless you and your wife and thank her for her service.

I ran into this sort of idiocy when I wrote an editorial for our small town newspaper supporting the war in Iraq. I received nasty emails and letters and even had libs coming into the editorial section of the paper telling me how stupid I was and how I had no right to express the opinion I had. But the one that really made me angry was the woman who wrote “Obviously you have never had a loved one in harm’s way or you couldn’t possibly have the attitude you do.”

The funny thing about that was, my husband was about three months away from retiring after 20 years in the USAF. During the time he served I spent many a sleepless night wondering where he was, if he was safe and when he would come home. When my daughter was six weeks old, he deployed to Saudi Arabia leaving me alone in a foreign country to prepare the family for a move to Nevada. I wasn’t even cleared to drive when he left, but I went ahead and did what I needed to do and was proud to do it. On more than one occasion my husband deployed while I was facing major surgery (On one occasion it was thought I had uterine cancer and was facing a hysterectomy). On top of worrying about his safety, it was left to me to care for my children and my home and to reassure my mother in law and other family members that he would be safe. I did all this and more, priding myself in the fact that I did not rely on others to handle any problem I faced. It was the only thing I could give my husband, that peace of mind that I would handle life while he did his job.

I was lucky. My husband was Air Force, so he generally served out of the line of fire. However, that doesn’t mean he was guaranteed safe. But to assume because I supported the ouster of Saddam Hussein was because I had never worried over a loved one was the ultimate folly.

To this day I and my children are different people than we might have been because we spent months worrying over the safety of my husband. The funny thing is, rather than making us anti-war and anti-U.S., our experience has made us believe more strongly than ever how important a strong national defense and willingness to defend freedom around the world truly is.

I find, not always, but quite often, those who blather on about how only those who have no loved ones in danger could possibly support a war are ones who have NEVER experienced such worry themselves. Because generally, the more folks brag about something, the less likely they are to have been through it. The more indignant they are about something, the less they’ve generally dealt with whatever it is.

Our military and their families deserve every honor they’re given and more. I pray every day for God to give these men and women and their families the strength and courage they need to make it through the worry and pain. If some of these anti-war anti-military nuts would take some of the energy they spend saying nasty things about those who serve and put it toward supporting our military and their families, perhaps THEY would find their own minds changed instead of waiting for others to change to suit them.