Sgt. 1st Class Jennifer Williams, recently back from a year in Korea and about to be redeployed to Iraq, explains what it's like to leave, and return to, and get ready to leave again, her three-year-old daughter.
"When I came home, she seemed to be in shock. She ran to me, but she just kept staring at me like she couldn't believe it. And [she] kept looking at everyone like, 'She's supposed to be in the computer.' "...
Williams says that as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, military women have developed an unofficial support network, swapping tips for helping their young children.
For example, some women have suggested she regularly wear a specific perfume or scented lotion "so that they connect that smell with you."
"And if you leave it at home, when they get really lonesome, they smell it and it makes them feel better," she says.
Then Williams brings up the unthinkable: If something happens in Iraq and she doesn't make it home, she says that fragrance will leave her little girl Reilly with a tangible memory of her mom.
Comments