Jul 04 2008
Have You Hugged Your Soldier Today?
There is a young American soldier that I admired very much serving in the War on Terror. Rebekkah Henderson is a 24-year-old divorced mother of one adorable little boy and a member of 955th Engineering Company, an Army Reserves unit from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Today, as my own special Fourth of July present, I got a note from Bekkah. Well, actually it was a mass email to friends and family in the States, but it may have been the best Independence Day present ever.
Before she left, Bekkah was taken to an old Army base in Wisconsin to become acclimatized to living in tents and hearing the Muslim call to prayer five times a day. They mentioned, but could not really prepare her unit for, moving to the desert. Still, she said in her email today, it’s not as bad as she thought it would be.
The sand where she is now is finer than in other places. So though the recent sand storm grounded air traffic and got sand everywhere, it did not sting as much as blowing sand in other locations. And, it’s really hot. From a girl who grew up in the subtropical humidity and heat of Southern Illinois, that’s big statement.
But, Bekkah told us, she was happy to discover that the world there is not nearly as brown as she had anticipated. There are trees, gress and even a couple small creeks on the base where she is stationed. Life in a warzone is not what she anticipated, beginning with PT early every morning and ending with a hike down to access the internet, but she said, it is hot.
Right now, this soldier is not asking for much from home, other than a promise that we will stop by her parents’ house and give her two-year-old son a hug from his mommy. I fought back the tears as I read her email, so very much like the girl I knew and yet so different as well.
Amid all the things that this bright and wonderful young American soldier has to do, she remembered to give up some precious sleep and send her loved ones a note to wish them a Happy Fourth of July. I wonder, across the country, how many people reveling in the freedom that this day celebrates, thought to stop and send a similar message to the soldiers they know…or even a stranger.
Before you pick up your fireworks tonight, send an email, write a card, or grab the nearest soldier. Thank them, give them a hug and wish them a very happy Independence Day. After all, without them, what would we really have to celebrate?
