Far from Home, Close in Heart

Steve's dad, Frank, is in Iraq for the third time. He works as an employee of the federal government, working with the military, and his job is to troubleshoot mechanical problems on the equipment. He's on a base in Baghdad.

He calls Steve when he can, and he's reported that they are experiencing almost constant mortaring, much more than he heard on his previous trips. Yesterday, he called Steve and told him they were under heavy ground fire. He said they knocked out communications on the base for a long while and that two GI's were hit with mortar rounds on the base today but are still alive. He said they keep having black outs on the base to avoid being targeted during the night hours.

I know there are thousands of families like us that are riveted to the television when news of the Iraq war is played. It seems even more difficult to be separated by the war during Christmas.