Chinadoll, Brian was told to expect that they will be gone between 9 months to a year. We are both really hoping that it's shorter, but we're not holding our breath. I kind of felt the same way about getting him out of here sooner so that he'll be home sooner but it was so much harder after he left than I thought it would be. I thought I could be tough, but I just have those days that I want to break down and do nothing but cry.

This is our second time being apart since we've been married but it never gets any easier to me. A month after we were married he was off to do a hardship tour in South Korea. He just got back last May from that and so we were reunited in June when he went to Ohio to get me to move me down here with him. During that entire year, we spent about 1 month together while he was home on what is called a mid-tour that he took in December/January. This time seems so much different because I'm no longer living with mom and dad, I've got my own animals to take care of, I'm so far away from family, I've gotten my associates degree when he was in Korea so I'd have it when we moved, and it's such a different situation. I hate being apart from him. I'm not sure how much longer we'll stay in the military because I'm so tired of being seperated. I want to be able to move forward in our life together and I feel anymore like everytime we turn around we're getting seperated so he can go overseas because of the military. Don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of him and I appreciate what the military does for our country, but he has now served for almost 4 years and has a little under 2 years left on his current contract, so I kind of feel like he has done his share of serving our great country. Maybe I'm just being selfish, but like I said, I feel like he has done more for our country by serving 6 years than a lot of teenagers do.

Anyways, thanks for everybody's support, I'm so greatful to my friends, including all of you, for being there for me in these hard times. I can't wait until our service members come home to be back with the families! These deployments really do affect us just as it does the soldier that goes!