The Army few get to see...

Chris' grandfather (my father) died suddenly Friday, June 9th. With heavy hearts, we contacted the Red Cross to get word to Chris at Ft. Leonard Wood. Chris was very close to his "Paw-Paw." And his Paw-Paw was extremely proud of him.
(As a parent, it broke my heart to have a stranger deliver this news to my son. Even worse, knowing he had to endure this grief over 800 miles away from his mother's arms.)
He took it very hard. He called home. He wanted to come back for the funeral.

A dilemma.

Chris has been working very hard to graduate on schedule. It was the most important thing in the world to him until that day. His grandfather would never have wanted him to jeopardize this goal on his account. Never. No way.

But Chris needed to be here. He needed to say "good-bye."
(Keep in mind, this is my first foray into the Army way of life, so I have no idea what the protocol is in these situations.)

What I learned is that the Army truly takes care of their own- even the E-1's. By the time I hung up the phone, the process of getting Chris home had begun. I didn't even have to think about graduation, because the "powers that be" in FLW would take care of that. I spoke with Staff Sgt. N- and when I say this man "lives the Army values," I mean I was humbled by his concern, and grateful for his knowledge and authority to "take care of things" on their end.

Chris could come home for 5 days without jeopardizing his graduation. If I could get the flight out of Springfield, Staff Sgt. N. would make sure Chris was on it.

***A most important, heartfelt "thank you" to the Officer (who's name I have unfortunately forgotten) who made the two-hour drive to the Springfield airport, so a grieving mother and son could be together in their darkest hour.***

Our entire family is deeply touched and sincerely grateful to everyone at Fort Leonard Wood who helped to make this difficult time just a little bit easier.

God Bless You & God Bless the USA.