What do you get when you cross J. Kerry with an American Soldier's Mom?
958435
2 people with less testosterone than a 10 year old boy.
613573
First let me say that I am very proud of you to serve our country! To answer your question, if BOTH people are willing to try then anything is possible! BOTH of you though need to feel very strongly about this. You need to sit down together somewhere comfortable and just talk to each other. Be very positive and willing to express your feelings as well as listening to hers. If you can do this and you BOTH feel the same way, you can get back what you first saw in eachother.\nGood luck!
797344
What does mom say about all this?  Is she behind the step dad stiffing her child?  If what you say is on the up and up your mom should have no problem lifting the 200 to make everything all square.
1005048
Yes, I knew that. I thought you were talking about my little brother until you said Gulf War Veteran.\n\nMy brother drove a big pick up with a Kerry sticker on one side of the bumper and a confederate flag on the other.
669659
I am an Army brat. My dad is now a retired Lt Col. I've been to Ft. Meade in Maryland, El Toro in California, Keflavik in Iceland, Ramstein in Germany (which I am now at stationed in the Air Force), Mildenhall in England, and Ft. Lewis in Washington. I'm glad that your dad is coming home to you soon. Hope he enjoys his short break from the desert. God bless!
532500
With the Marines. Just stay next to the guy on your right and left. It is the job of a Marine to keep the guy to your right and the guy to your left alive at all costs. There is no more noble cause then to give your life for that of a friends. No one wants peace more then a solider, we train for war but, pray for peace. It is his decision "mom" support him in his choice even though you worry about him (what mom wouldn't) and tell him how proud you are of him and his choice.
650402
Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.  My little brother was killed in Iraq, and trust me, I would give just about anything to have him back--even for just a few minutes.  Be happy you have her.  As much as it may suck sometimes, the alternative is much worse.
240765
I support the American troops with out a doubt!  100%  My thanks goes out to your son and many other Americans in Iraq.  A true American SHOULD NEVER be negative towards our troops.  No matter what you think of the Iraq war our American troops need us....the USA.....behind them!  My prayers are with your son as well as the other troops.
441324
I served four tours in Iraq...as a United States Special Forces Commander...and it has affected my life...my family...I came back with a moderate - severe Traumatic Brain Injury...and ever since...I have not spoken a word in about four months...I can't tell my daughter that I love her...Or that I'm proud of her. I lost my best friend over there...and not able to do anything. I know families...and wives and children who have lost their father and husband and brother to this war. But we all fought together as one...into something that we believed in. And something...that is our duty to protect and serve this nation. I know that I am proud of my guys...and every single guy over there and every single woman and man who is training up to go over there. It's not as easy as it looks...and at times... Its' not as bad as you see it from the news...but sometimes its not that great either. I know I've learned personally...to never take anything for granted ... because you never know when it will end. I know that I am forever grateful that God gave me a second chance...and its not easy...to get second chances in life. God bless.
1080484
Hi!  I am sorry about the situation you are in.  I used to be a step-mom but now I am an adoptive mother.  When I married my daughters dad I automatically became step-mom.  I then adopted them (by the way, my husband had to adopt them with me even though he is the biological father).  My name is now on the girls birth certificates as if I was the one who gave birth to them.  The natural mother loses all rights- even her name on their legal birth certificates!  I hope you can give your step-mom a chance.  It'll be hard, I know.  I was lucky, my girls were very little and I'm the only mom that they know and love.  Is she mean to you or jealous of you?  Are you jealous of her relationship with your dad?   Please figure out why you don't like her and maybe the both of you can work it out.  You are not being disloyal to your mother if you like the step.  You didn't mention whether your mom is still in the picture.  I assume and hope she is still alive.  If not, I'm sorry.  Please, for your sake give step -mom a chance.  The more allies you have on your side the better.  Besides, I know you must love your dad and there could be no worse heartache than seeing the two women closest to him feeling that way.  See it in your heart to be happy for him.  There must be something worth liking about her if your dad picked her for his wife.
863177
First of all I deeply impathize with your worry. All or most mothers worry and all military sons know this. \n    First focus on being PROUD that you have a son that left a boy and became a man. Not just a man but a human man that caes about life. Although out of necessisity he may be required to take lives.\n     A  man that has been trained by other experienced MEN that went before him but passed on their knowledge and skills that enhanced the chance for him to come back to you.\n     You were and had to be strong thru out his life and that strength came from you that prepared the military to make him even stronger than you did.\n     So what HE needs is for you to be strong for yourself. To give him your love and not give pause for him to be distracted by your worry at this time. He needs all his vocuse on his job, not his job of killing but his job of surviving and not being killed. \n     Mom, I know you worry and such worry hurts but turn that worry/hurt into positive action and energy. Send he and his men what use to be called care packages but I call LOVE packages. Remember he is not going to tell, send you any bad news or hurtfull things that will make you hurt or worry more. So you do the same. \n     Remember you two are a team in this sense just as he and his fellow heros are. He will soon have access and be able to send web mail etc. You do the same. Fill that camera when you answer full of love and show him your strength in that love.\n     Now for you, GET/Keep busy. If you have other children,husband at home continue to band and share love with them like you did him. Pull on your spiritual/relegious faith. Get involved in a support group of other mothers who are also going thru what you are. If you are not near the base he was deployed from then talk to the Chaplain at a base near you and he can direct you to other mothers and wifes there to connect with. \n      If you think it will help you are free to be a chat buddy with me for moral support. My EM is gsmcsee@yahoo.com.\n     I hope this helps. Also please excuse spelling for I think it is too long for "spell check to work"
465677
It depends on a couple things, your state of mind, did you happened to roll up on the scene. My situation, I just returned from Iraq, wanted to surprise her. The kid in the basement. Walked in on her & homeboy, I didnt have no beef with homeboy, didnt know him, he just being a playa. My ole lady on the other hand, I wasnt thinking straight, I grabbed the first thing that I could put my hand on, happened to be a hammer, straight up broke in both of her knee's. Didnt do any jail time; definitely got rid of her . I look back, I get a good laugh. I should have just took my stuff & left.
554533
Is this family heartbroken? \nSomewhere in Iraq, a family sits down to a Id al-Fitr dinner. The weather is warm, Dad has been busy cooking. People exchange cards and give food and money to the needy. Children wear new clothes, girls decorate their feet and hands with henna, and families and friends exchange visits All are seated. They take each others’ hands as they worry when the next air strike might occur, bounded in a circle of love. The father looks so much older now even though it’s been just a year since they last observed this day devoted to Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Issac. The  dark circles surround his eyes, his wrinkles are deeper and their is obviously more gray in his hair. His shoulders almost seem bent down from some inner burden. \nHe looks around the table at his lovely family. Each looks sadly at the empty chair missing their loved ones who died in a war that was illegal and unjust. 9-year-old Eman Walid tells story about when the Marines burst into the home where most of her terrified family--including her mother, grandfather, grandmother, two brothers, two aunts and two uncles--was huddled together in the living room in their nightclothes.“First, they went into my father’s room, where he was reading the Koran,” she said, “and we heard shots.” Then, she said, the soldiers came back into the living room. “I couldn’t see their faces very well--only their guns sticking into the doorway. I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny.” The Marines, she says, began firing into the corner of the room while the adults tried to shield her and her 8-year-old brother. Seven adults were killed, her brother was shot in the shoulder, and she suffered a shrapnel wound to her leg. “We were lying there, bleeding, and it hurt so much,” she says. “Afterward, some Iraqi soldiers came. They carried us in their arms. I was crying, shouting, ‘Why did you do this to our family?’ And one Iraqi soldier tells me, ‘We didn’t do it. The Americans did.’” In this day of remembering loved ones, we will love them forever...
959707
My dad was deployed on a lot of holidays when I was growing up.  My mom invited soldiers over whose family was in the States or somewhere else.  Thanksgiving isn't just about family its about being with friends too, so she just made sure that if anyone didn't have a place to go they were at our house!
1050377
United States Air Force  Master Sergeant  retired with 22 years active duty.  OK that's my pedigree.  And here's the answer to your question.\n\nYour son will be subject to being put in harms way.  That is the military.  We are there to stand between the American People and danger.  It is a noble profession and most men and women who wear the uniform will agree.  Very few civilian professions are equal to the experiences of a typical military man.  I was responsible for millions of dollars worth of aircraft and the safety of their crews before I was 20 years old.  Try to realize that at IBM or Ford Motor Co.  It simply won't happen.  So, yes it is worth it, but if and only if he does it for the right reason.\n\nIf your son is joining because he is an American, a patriot proud of his land and liberties and with a burning desire to do something to preserve that land then he is on the right track.  However, if he is enlisting to get money for college, thinks he wants to kill people, can't find a job, is sick and tired of being at home, wants to purge an arrest from his record or any of a dozen other reasons, it will be the hardest job he can imagine and he will hate every minute of it.\n\nThe purpose of the US military is to enforce our foreign policy.  Since the President is the only person authorized to make foreign policy your son will not be asked, he will be told what must be done.  That means whether on not he agrees with it.  He will not be allowed to pick and choose the orders he will obey.  I served under Lyndon Johnson, the worst micromanager this world has seen for centuries.  I served under Jimmy Carter, a fine moral man who was totally incompetent.  He was simply in over his head.  But it made no difference, while I didn't like either of them, I respected and obeyed both of them.\n\nMy wife and I have four children.  When my youngest daughter considered the military she came to me.  I was blunt with her as I am with you.  I told her that I would support any decision she made.  I told her I didn't want to hear her complain because she didn't get the job she wanted or that it was hard for a woman or she didn't want to go over seas.   The only absolute is the President.  When the Boss calls for help the military helps.  So if the President of the United States picks up the phone and dials 911 I expected her to answer, and you should expect the same of your son.\n\nI guess I was too blunt because she opted not to enlist.  A wise move for her, she wasn't acting for the right reason.\n\nI can be contacted through my profile.  Drop a line if I can be of any further use.  And Good Luck to your son.
371853
email, or ask his mom or wife or family. one of them has to have it, or know who they can ask for it. When my ex was deployed, I got his address as well as a contact person in case anything happened.
1020488
Yes, it would appear that most immediate family do support both wars. If you were to watch unbiased coverage on television, you would get this impression from family members interviewed as well as audience responses where they are in the audience. Most parents of soldier killed in action believe if we don't pursue the war to it proper resolution--a self-sufficient Iraq--the lives of their sons would have been lost in vain. As a tribute to the fallen, they believe the war should be continued until it is won honorably by us. I'm not an authority on the subject but I do listen a lot as I'm a "news junkie" and a reporter once-upon-a-time.