Afghanistan War has hit home for many

Afghanistan War has hit home for many
America’s longest war has implications globally, but affects so many people on a personal level
By Jeff Gill
October 9, 2011

The Afghanistan War is more than just rooting out terrorists and others who would suppress freedom.

At 10 years and counting, it's even more than trying to establish democracy or to bring stability and prosperity to this rugged country that has defied foreign involvement for hundreds of years.

It's the story of a mother praying for her son or daughter in harm's way or a family's emotional embrace after a soldier returns home from deployment.

The war is very personal.

"I just want them all home. I just want all the guys and girls home," said Bonnie Marshall, Forsyth County mother of Spc. Taylor Marshall, who just turned 25 in the war zone as part of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division.

"They've done a great job."

She said she can log on anytime to a Family Readiness Group website for updates and see that there are other soldiers who have been lost in action in Taylor's troop.

"He doesn't even know about them. I find out about them and tell him ... so, I know there's still action going on over there."

The war has claimed at least 1,700 American soldiers since the U.S. invaded the country in South Central Asia on Oct. 7, 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks weeks earlier on Sept. 11.
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