Home > Georgians@War > Archives > 2007 > March > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThat awkward, awful moment of saying goodbye
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Driving home after dropping my son Ken off at the MARTA station after his two-week leave, I had a deja-vu experience of returning to Vietnam after one of my leaves.
I didn’t have a new baby - as Ken does — and Ken was 7 at the time, but I recall that the anxiety and apprehension of returning was more intense than it had been during my initial departure for Vietnam.
The first time, I went with my unit. The camaraderie of going as a unit or crew makes it a little easier. But when returning from leave, you’re generally alone.
I wondered if Ken was experiencing the same emotions as I had felt.
His leaving also gave me a sense of what my family must have felt, seeing their father and husband going to war in some far-off corner of the world, perhaps, God forbid, not to return.
Does your knowledge as a war vet make it harder to send a son or daughter off?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Kenneth Hutnick
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By Tracey
March 13, 2007 11:47 AM | Link to this
Today is my brothers birthday. Sgt Calvin Eschete from 2nd Platoon! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you and wish you could be here so we could celebrate with you. Take care and we will talk soon.
By Tracey
March 13, 2007 11:47 AM | Link to this
Today is my brothers birthday. Sgt Calvin Eschete from 2nd Platoon! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you and wish you could be here so we could celebrate with you. Take care and we will talk soon.
By USPHS RD
March 13, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this
It was the hardest thing to tell my mom that I was deploying on the USNS COMFORT for Operation Iraqi Freedom back in February 2003 when I had JUST returned from an overseas tour of duty for 2 1/2 years. She seemed to take it okay because my dad had served in the Army during Vietnam (fortunately he was stationed stateside during his draft service from 1966-1969). However, the image that is forever burned into my mind is when she dropped me off at Hartsfield Airport in March 2003 (she uses a wheelchair, so getting in and out would have been very difficult for her) and as I turned to go to the Delta ticket counter to check in to fly to Norfolk, VA to catch the flight to Bahrain, I saw her crying as she was driving off. Seeing her on the dock in Baltimore when we sailed back on June 13, 2003 meant the world to me and I couldn’t wait to run down the gangplank to give her a hug hello!