October 16, 2003
I'll be Home Soon Honey
Petra and I went to Giessen last week to visit 2/3 families. While in Baghdad, I made an effort to get guys to shout-out to their spouses and kids so we could edit a short video for the families in Giessen.
I feel a lot for these families. My Dad left for Vietnam on a troop ship on my first birthday. I thought of my mother, who spent three tours waiting for a doorbell to ring or a car door to slam. I spent the first sixteen years of my life around the army--and then another six, from age 17-23, in the Army Reserve. I guess, soldiers like Wilf remind me of myself and seeing these families and their quiet struggles, brings back memories of another time, another war.
Mike, Army '86
When we showed the video to the families, the kids sat on the floor circling the TV, almost touching it. A known face would pop up on screen and say, "I'll be home soon honey. Don't worry". Then the woman in love with that face would jump in the air, excited to see the briefest glimpse of life in Baghdad--just to know that he's OK. Seeing that, meeting the families, it all became personal. We connected the families with the faces faraway.
