In addition to all the troops we have over there, there is a good population of American Civilians who have gone over for various humanitarian and contractual purposes. Among those is my cousin, Stanley.
Stanley is my age and from pictures I saw of him about 17 years ago he looks like he could be the twin of my brother. While I’ve stayed in casual contact with his older brother, and to a lesser degree his mom, I haven’t actually seen, or heard much about him in almost 30 years. About a week ago I got an e-mail from his older brother telling me that Stanley would be heading over to Iraq with his company.
While I had been thinking about our people over there prior to this, it suddenly took on a more personal tone. It doesn’t change my opinion or feelings about what is going on, and my position on our folks being over there. It has however increased the amount of prayers I am saying for our folks.