“I spent 13 years in the Navy and then joined the Reserves when the military started downsizing. In 2013 I was deployed to Afghanistan for a year (my second tour). By then I was divorced and the mother of a 10-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. The children were able to stay with a wonderful family we’re very close to, but it was still difficult. I dealt with the separation by compartmentalizing: putting my emotions in one drawer and my military responsibilities in another.
“The kids and I Skyped regularly, and my son tried to be a big boy and not let it bother him, but my daughter cried all the way through every conversation we had. After the year was up, I phased out of the Reserves. I just couldn’t do that again. My children needed me. They needed to know I was always coming home. Even now, more than a year after my return, they still get anxious if I have to be away for a day or two. They ask over and over, ‘Where are you going? How long will you be gone? When are you coming home?’ The military is hard on families. We made it through, but that year apart is something we'll never get back."
“The kids and I Skyped regularly, and my son tried to be a big boy and not let it bother him, but my daughter cried all the way through every conversation we had. After the year was up, I phased out of the Reserves. I just couldn’t do that again. My children needed me. They needed to know I was always coming home. Even now, more than a year after my return, they still get anxious if I have to be away for a day or two. They ask over and over, ‘Where are you going? How long will you be gone? When are you coming home?’ The military is hard on families. We made it through, but that year apart is something we'll never get back."
Enesiya Almanza-Martinez is a Neighborhood Connector in the Highland Heights area.
- Website: The Corners of Highland Heights
- FB: We Are the Heights
- Email: enesiya@ctcmidsouth.org
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