This side of the deployment has its own challenges and difficulties. While many more people out there are beginning to recognize the efforts and energy it takes to "hold down the homefront," it is nearly impossible that they understand it (just as it is impossible that they can understand the life of a deployed soldier).
There are Frontline, CNN, ABC, and Fox specials that are supposed to give you an "inside look," but the chances that the American audience walks away thinking they can empathize with the military life are slim to none. It is a different world.
A world where it's okay to talk about intimate details of your life during intervals of reprimanding your children. A world where support can't always come from those you expect it to. A world where in ten minutes the gamut of conversation will run from mixed drinks to the aching feeling of sleeping alone.
There is nothing like this world, where emails and phone calls replace hugs and kisses.
I just wanted to let you know that Jamie and I are praying for you guys! I won't say that we understand you situation, but we know what it is like to live overseas and not have anyone who can truly understand what our life has been like. It is a lonely and challenging experience. And it can be discouraging when it seems like people don't want to try and understand either. Anyway, we are praying for you guys and trusting God to maintain you all in ways that I sure don't understand.
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