My Father-In-Law, Dennis, is a therapist. He has been in the Naval Reserves for years and years where he has been utilized in the US, heading up the Navy's Drug Free program.
A few months back he put in his papers for retirement 6 months early, as is the regulation. He was shocked to receive a letter in response telling him he was being activated. At first we thought the activation would be sending him to North Carolina for 1-2 years, but soon after he received the news that the Navy was sending him to Iraq as a Therapist for our American troops. This was shocking news indeed, especially since he is nearing his 60th birthday, the usual age for Naval retirement.
He left this past October 10th. We have been lucky enough to be able to have some Skype calls with him, sometimes with video feed, but we miss him so much. He has a distinctly steady presence which I have always found very reassuring. He is dependable and reliable and strong and he and my Mother-In-Law make a great team of constancy and goodness.
We received some t-shirts for the girls for Christmas from the base in Al Asad where he is stationed. And yesterday we received a CD burned with photos of his life there in Iraq. It is interesting to see where he is now, but also sad to think of him being so far away. We are so proud of him and the work he is doing for our troops. I know he is an amazing therapist and is able to make the transitions, fears and emotional difficulties associated with war much easier for our brave men and women in uniform.
We love you Dennis/Dad/Grandpa!
God Bless our troops!
.
.
6 comments:
It is so neat to see these pictures! I don't personally know any troops (my cousin's husband is an Army Ranger in Afghanistan but I've never met him), so it's kind of neat to see it first-hand like this. How is he handling it?
WOW ... how long is his activation ... will he be able to retire at 60 as planned ...??
God Bless your American HERO!
Emilie,
I keep meaning to get a box of things together to send overseas, but never manage to get all my ducks in a row. If you could find out what your father-in-law and his fellow soldiers need, I would happily contribute, and I bet some of your other readers would too!
Plus, since I'm local, I can help pack the box ;-)
Wow--this post made me cry...which is partly because I'm pregnant, but mainly because I miss him. We're definitely proud of him though. Thanks for including him in your blog!
It's good to hear an update on how Dennis is doing(I know him from Layton, I grew up on Snowcreek, just a block away and was in choir at church with him for years). As much as deployments bite, I am glad that there are therapists there serving our troops. My husband is currently deployed as well and I hope that all our troops come home safe soon!
Post a Comment