For National Guard families, a difficult year on the homefront

For National Guard families, a difficult year on the homefront
by Judy Peet/The Star-Ledger
Saturday February 21, 2009, 7:32 PM
Since Christmas, Khadeja Bynum has been robbed at gunpoint and rear-ended by a stolen car, and she suffered a death in the family, but it was the shower head that took her over the edge.

"The plumber said he had to rip a hole in the outside of the house to fix the shower. Can that be right? How am I supposed to know if that's right? This was not my role in the family. I don't want it to be my role in the family," Bynum, a 40-year-old Newark schoolteacher, said with a haunted look.

"Listen, I know it's a little thing, but there have been too many little things. What I really, really want is my husband back."

The long wait is coming to an end for the families of nearly 3,000 New Jersey Army National Guard members who went to Iraq last year in the state's largest deployment since World War II. Military counselors have begun to prepare spouses for what to expect when their loved ones return from the desert.

The message? If you think it's tough now, just wait until the soldiers come marching home.
go here for more
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/for_national_guard_families_a.html