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Support crucial for Blue, Gold Star families
Jennifer Holton reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Barbara McGreal says the moment she heard Iran had launched missiles at air bases in Iraq Tuesday night she began to pray.
"I just prayed that our, all of our service members were OK," she said.
McGreal, the president of Tampa's Blue Star Mothers, says it was a moment many families expected, but hoped would never come.
"Although there was a lot of discussion on casualties and what happened, we all had to remain calm, in the fact that we have our children there," she said.
As tensions rose between the US and Iran last week, thousands of families braced for sudden deployments.
"I have some of my moms whose children are leaving within 48 hours’ notice," she said.
That's when their community comes together, whether they're Blue Star, or Gold Star families, like Craig Gross.
"When a soldier is deployed, there's not a day that you don't get up and start thinking about your son or your daughter, and the grave peril they're in," Gross said.
That peril took the life of his son, Frank, while he was serving in the Army in Afghanistan in 2011.
"16 July, 2011 is when Frankie was killed in action," Gross said.
The 25-year-old died a short time into his deployment, after an IED exploded. Gross says his son could have entered the Army as an officer, but decided to start as an infantryman, instead.
That July day is one Gross comes back to all the time, and when thinking of other soldiers at al-Assad Air Base Tuesday night.
"I believe that Iran basically was throwing a softball at us," Gross said. "They didn't really make a statement in their retaliation."
But the message these families have for others remains the same.
"Pray for our warriors," said McGreal. "Keep their family members in your thoughts and prayers. And if you do know a military family, reach out to them. Because while the military families are away, they do wonder and worry about whether everything is OK at home. And their children and their families, their wives, their sisters, their brothers. So reach out to those family members and let them know you're there for them and you support them. And if there's anything you can do for them, certainly make yourself available to do so."