He announced that he is being deployed to Afghanistan in March.  He will be gone for approximately 400 days.  The whole room went silent.  No one knew what to say.

For some reason, it felt like my heart stopped and I could feel tears prick my eyes.

Our boss announced that they will be hiring for his position while he is away, and then when he returns home he will have his job waiting for him.

The room was awkwardly silent.  We were all thinking the same thing:

IF.

IF he comes home, he will have his job waiting for him.

I went back to my desk and fought back tears.  He is a good man.  A brave man.  A man who loves his country enough that he will leave his wife and newborn son to put himself in harm’s way.  His wife is a good woman, for being brave enough to let him go, especially after having their first child.  I would’ve died if my hubby left for war after my daughter was born.  These two individuals are a thousand times stronger than I am.  I cried in my cubicle thinking about all the brave men and women that have left their homes and their families, and wished they didn’t have to.

I hope and pray that he will come home.  I hope all of them can come home.