Guard support: As months progress, more servicemen called to duty

There are hundreds of North Carolina servicemen and women who will soon be called to duty in Afghanistan and Iraq as officials try to figure out the next step for U.S. involvement in these two countries.

And for many of these volunteers, their deployments will be long and tough, requiring them to be gone for many months at a time. Some might even be away more than a year, creating hardships for them as they try to fulfill their obligation to their country.

So, as the units are announced and the departure dates are set, it is critical that North Carolina citizens and officials start thinking about how best to help support them and the families they will leave behind.

Making sure that there are crowds on hand to send them off and to welcome them home is just one contribution. An even more important one is to volunteer to help with the day-to-day tasks that many of their wives and husbands will now have to handle alone.

A helping hand with yard work, a little extra child care -- or even a home-cooked meal once in a while -- could be a blessing for a family trying to manage one man down. And knowing that their families have the support they need can take great strain off a serviceman or woman too far away to help.

This is a time to pull together and to answer a call of our own. Wayne County will be one of the areas with Guardsmen called to service.

This will be our chance to say thank you.

Published in Editorials on March 16, 2009 11:07 AM