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(For Contest: Foreign War)

There you are...face to face with me...on Skype...
thousands of miles away.  A soldier, but still my son;
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, Iraq War, February 2004.
   
You tell me you are safe.  After all, you are an officer;
Brigade Commander, an engineer...you have guards.
You are ready...trained so well for survival.  But still...
things can happen, and they have, even to officers.*
   
Each day haunts us: are you a target on that helicopter?
Are you directing military feats near the war zones?
Will there be hidden roadside bombs on your paths?
Will suicide bombers breach the green zone at night?
Too many scenarios; too many bad stories in the news.
   
As an officer, you have to send out those sad letters 
about your lost soldiers...your men, your comrades...
to families...now in deep shock with broken hearts.
Too many sons...some daughters...not coming home.
Our hearts ache for them; their waiting is now over.
   
Dad and I, your sisters, your wife, and children wait.
The days, weeks, months...years, drag by slowly;
many missed Thanksgivings, Christmases, birthdays.

Finally...your deployment ends; prayers are answered.
Safely, you come home from the war, September 2006;
two years and seven months of worry...missing...waiting.

Now...fourteen years later...many others...still waiting.**


Sandra M. Haight

~2nd Place~
Premiere Contest: Foreign War
Sponsor: Lewis Raynes
Judged: 05/29/2017
 
(Revision of a poem posted September 6, 2015)

  *Operation Iraqi Freedom:  Officers Killed In Action: 427, Wounded: 1,880

**March 19, 2003: President Bush launches the invasion of Iraq 
    December 15, 2011: President Obama declares an 'end' to the Iraq War.

    However, now in 2017, many more soldiers are still being deployed to Iraq...
    no real end...and 'war' continues with casualties. The Iraq War is listed as 
    America's 3rd longest foreign war.
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