By Sam Blackwell ~ Southeast Missourian
Here on the threshold of war, families of servicemen and servicewomen are anxious, church congregations pray for the safety of the U.S. troops and some still pray for peace. On Wall Street, the American economy thrown into shock by Sept. 11, 2001, has started showing signs of life.
War and the threat of war have severe impacts on military personnel and their families, they clearly define questions of moral right and wrong, they create high anxiety in society and have financial effects whether we want to think of them or not. Here are some of the ways:
Theresa and David Hopkins’ son, Luke, is somewhere in the Middle East aboard a merchant marine vessel delivering cargo. Only 10 months after graduating from Jackson High School, Hopkins is part of a U.S. Navy Seabee construction unit.
He phoned his family Friday and talked to his fiancee, Amber Lueder of Jackson. He was upbeat and ready to roll, his mother says. “He’s all for it.”
But these are nervous days for his family, she admits. “It’s very anxious for both of us. When we get home in the evening, the biggest part of the time the news is on TV. We’re not too far away from our phones. We always have a phone with us.”
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James Britt Jr. and his wife, Carolyn, of Jackson have one son, Matt, serving in the Mideast and another son, Chris, who leaves Sunday to serve in another hot spot, South Korea.
“Everyone asks us how we can handle it,” James says. “We can’t control it. We trust in the Lord to get them through whatever is going to happen.”
Matt, an Army private, is a psychological operations specialist. One of his responsibilities is the leaflets being dropped telling Iraqis what is about to happen. Soon Iraq will be flooded with vehicles whose loudspeakers can broadcast surrender information up to a mile away. That’s part of Matt’s job.
“He’ll be trying to convince the enemy or friendly foe in enemy territory to walk away,” James says.
