This is from the site GuardFamily.com
The article that begins on Page 15-- "Homefront: Dealing with Deployment" -- is also in this month's Money magazine.
Ephrata, a farming town of 6,800 in eastern Washington, just south of the Grand Coulee dam, is an unlikely spot for a child abduction. It's a place where life is lived behind unlocked doors and on a first-name basis. But now there's an undercurrent of fatigue and worry. "It's been a really long year," Kelly says. Her husband Wade, 41, is also missing. A lab technician with a chemical company in nearby Moses Lake, Wade is a Specialist E-4 in the 1161st Transportation Company of the Washington Army National Guard, based in Ephrata. Since May 2003, he and other members of the 1161st have been driving armored supply trucks in Iraq. They are on the longest deployment of any Guard unit since World War II. They've logged over 900,000 miles and carted 14,000 loads. They have been ambushed delivering mail to Fallujah and have driven overland mines; five of them have been injured seriously enough to be sent home, none fatally. Their tour of duty, originally six months, has been extended. Twice. This year's parade, part of Ephrata's 95th annual Sage-n-Sun Festival, was supposed to welcome back Wade Kelly and the other 129 members of the 1161st, 34 of them women, now in Iraq. Instead, their families will be marching without them. For the past 18 months those families have had to earn, budget ,spend
and generally get along on their own, financially and emotionally. They've also had to dig deep into their pockets to pay for supplies for the citizen soldiers in Iraq. For some that has meant taking jobs (or second jobs) and spending their savings. They're not risking their lives the way the members of the 1161stare, but they are taking on big burdens and making big sacrifices all the same.
It's been harder than anyone could have expected. For many Americans in rural, decidedly not-rich towns like this, joining the National Guard is an economic choice, a part-time commitment in exchange for a second income or a way to pay for college. Grant County, of which Ephrata is the county seat, has a median household income of $ 32,336 a year. But people here think of the Guard as more
than just a way to make money--it's also an opportunity to serve. Eastern Washington has been studded with military bases since World War II, and the Guard and other services are a big part of the local economy and of everyday life. Now Guard and Reserve troops are playing a large role in a difficult and controversial war. About one-fourth of the 135,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq are Guard troops or reservists. "I don't think that any of us predicted that there would have been such a reliance on the Reserve brought into federal service for such a lengthy period of time," says Col. Rick Patterson, spokesman for the Washington Army National Guard. "The sacrifice for them, their families and their communities has been enormous."
Down on Page 20 is another article
With Breadwinners Away, Some Military Families Adjusting To Smaller Incomes
Military families have had to make adjustments not only to their loved ones being deployed, but also to smaller household budgets. Dorothy Sealy, who runs the Malvern-based military family assistance center serving four counties, says she's helped families re-adjust their lifestyles to fit military salaries, which can be significantly less than civilian paychecks. "Most of them have to learn to think before they buy," she said. "Some really have to practice economics and maybe they had not had to in the past. I think most of them can make it if they don't buy new things, but there are those families that have a tremendous amount of bills before the soldier departed, and they have it pretty hard."
I printed this as a companion to AndyS' diary.
Now while military families often vote Repub, remember that we're talking Reservists in this case. These are the guys who don't live on military bases, and therefore aren't subject to groupthink. Up until last year, most of them were going to regular 9-5 jobs just like you or me. What does Bu$hCo think these guys' families are going to do in November? After realizing that they were lied to about the WMD, and getting duty extensions, and fighting to make ends meet, does Rummy actually think these people are going to give them another 4 years?