Military families meet in Sisters

Sending a son or daughter off to life in the military puts a parent in a conflicting emotional quandary of pride and fear, especially during a war when "active duty" truly is a time of action.

Your correspondent's son is a sergeant in an Army unit, and he doesn't want his name or where he is stationed printed - for security reasons. That's scary. When he is deployed twice a year, his parents don't know what day he'll go, where he is or when he'll be back.

Fear lurks at the edge of our minds.

But we know that other military parents face the same emotions and understand the roller coasters our minds can be when loved ones are deployed. When a support group for Sisters military parents started up, we both embraced it. Even my husband, who is generally stoic about expressing his fears. He'd rather find a really hard job to do on the ranch than talk.

The group meets once a month at the Sisters Coffee Company, and in military fashion goes by the acronym MPS, for Military Parents of Sisters.

Carla Merrell, whose son Jake is a Marine, decided to meet a need by offering a place for parents to get to know each other and their sons. (At this stage no Sisters daughters are on active duty.) As well as supporting each other when the soldiers are deployed, cards and care packages from the group will find their way overseas. Wives and children at home are also on the MPS radar for notes of encouragement.

For new recruits deployment is a long way away and the months of training are arduous. Many parents of those soldiers who are finding their place in the military discover that they too go through a process of learning how to parent a soldier. I discovered you can't give nutritional advice to someone who eats in a mess hall.

"When your child graduates from high school and suddenly is in the Armed Forces, there are a bunch of changes and no one understands better than a military parent" said Merrell.

The group is planning activities for Memorial Day and Veterans Day and will honor graduating Sisters High School students who have chosen the military. "It was a natural fit to include education and events as part of our focus too," said Merrell.

The next meeting is Tuesday, February 12, at 5 p.m.