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Family military duty brings pride, anxiety for essay contest winner |
| By
Jim Winkler |
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Aug 23, 2007 |
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It’s 1:30 a.m. when the phone rings.
Sound asleep, most people would simply roll over and answer the phone, but not in our house. As we reach for the receiver, our hearts speed up and muscles tense. Who is calling? Where are they calling from? Is it good news or bad?
No, we cannot simply answer the phone when it rings in the middle of the night. We’re a military family …
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| Laux |
A world at war brings anxiety for UT graduate assistant Beth Laux, who teaches a government course in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and who has a brother, a future sister-in-law and four cousins serving in the military.
Laux won an essay contest sponsored this summer about how separations brought about by military service has affected her family, earning a trip for two valued at $4,000 to Southern California Aug. 24-26 to see the season’s final taping of the television show “Army Wives.” The trip is part of an advertising agreement between UT and Time-Warner Cable System.
The ripples of war and military duty lap through the Laux family.
Her brother, Mark, 24, is a sergeant with the U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., while his fiancée, Monica, is completing her junior year at the U.S Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Four cousins are on active duty. Brad Stolk, 21, of Perrysburg, is stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, with the U.S. Army; Matt Drew, 27, of New Madison, Ohio, is serving as a military policeman with the U.S. Marines at Quantico, Va.; Jerod Drew, 30, also of New Madison, is an infantryman serving in Fallujah, Iraq, with the U.S. Army; and Josh Shiverdecker, 20, of New Madison, is with the U.S. Army at Ft. Carson, Colo.
For Laux, a Perrysburg native and graduate of Michigan’s Aquinas College, thoughts of her relatives are always in her heart. With the military stretched thin by fighting in Iraq and in Afghanistan, she knows some soldiers and marines are required to go to war zones multiple times, for longer deployments and with far less time off at home than their predecessors ever experienced. But she is proud that her loved ones chose to make such tremendous sacrifices for the freedom and safety of others.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about them and whether they are OK,” she said. “We are a very close family.”
Coping with the ordeal has meant keeping busy, hoping and praying.
“Faith has been a core part of how we have coped and gotten through, the knowledge that someone is watching over them,” she said.
For her family, the days are sometimes long and full of anxiety. The saddest times are special occasions and the holidays.
“As a close family, the most difficult part of military service is the separations,” Laux wrote in her essay. “When our loved ones deploy, we experience fears and anxieties that are unique to a military family. We know that our servicemen risk their lives each day in training and in combat. In their absence, we wonder: Are they eating enough? Are they sleeping well? Did they get good training? Where are they going and who is waiting for them when they reach their destination?
“These feelings of uncertainty are exacerbated by our everyday lives. We open the newspaper to articles about terrorism. We turn on the television to see images of violence. On the radio, we hear our own congressmen argue about whether or not the sacrifices that our family makes each day are worth the effort. As we are bombarded by these stimuli, our emotions transform into physical symptoms such as insomnia, changes in appetite, headaches and tension. Yet through it all, we stay strong, and our pride in the service of our loved ones shines through.”
Laux knows she has to keep a positive outlook despite the constant tension and worry.
“Despite the hardships of military service, there are also blessings,” she said. “For the Laux family, the separations and challenges of military life have strengthened our faith in God. We believe that, whether we are called to be secretaries, students, mechanics or Marines, God accompanies us on our journey through life. We stay strong knowing that, regardless of whether our servicemen are at Camp Pendleton, Fort Benning, Annapolis or in Baghdad, they and their comrades are not alone as they face dangers that you and I cannot imagine. As a family, we wait here patiently, praying for their safe return, and knowing that they will be welcomed home with open arms and yellow ribbons when the time comes.”
… As we answer the phone, a cheerful voice says, “Hi! I know it’s early in Toledo, but I had a chance to call …” We give a sigh of relief. Everything is OK for one more day.
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