[Karen Leming]

How many of you are the mother of a soldier deployed in IRAQ or Afghanistan?

[MONICA]

I'm not a mother of a soldier, but I'm prior service, and my brother was just deployed to Iraq and I have many friends and extended family deployed right now.

[Nancy]

My husband just retired from the Army and has been in the Gulf War and OIF.
_________________

[Karen Leming]

Thank you for your response. I was just curious if other firefighters are in the same position as I am. My son deployed last year to Camp Anaconda, Balad. Balad is 50 miles north of Baghdad. He will finish his one year tour in October.

[Karen Leming]

For those of you who are interested, either because you have a loved one deployed or serving, there is a wonderful program called "Hero To Hero". It is pollice and fire supporting our troops. It is a morale boosting program in which fire and police literally give the shirts of their backs signed with messages of support and then the shirts are sent to IRAQ and Afghanistan to our soldiers. It is not meant to be political.
If you are intersted in the program, go to www.herotohero.us and check it out. Right now, Liz (the founder) is on a National Tour throughout United States and Canada collecting shirts. She could be coming to your department! Last year they shipped out over 5,500 shirts to our troops. My sons unit recieved them in fact.