Being in the military involves many daunting tasks; however, for many who have served, leaving home is often the hardest part. In honor of Veterans Day, this article will highlight service members and their deployment stories.

When parting from home, many service members leave and return home to different people or living situations. Some may be leaving family, a spouse, children and others might be leaving a new opportunity. For soldier Andy Shanley, when he was leaving for Iraq, he was also leaving behind an exciting new job.

“The hardest part about leaving for Iraq was the fact that I needed to leave my new job with St. Paul PD. I was just hired and finished the academy and field training and was then slotted to deploy,” Shanley said.

Army soldiers like Shanley would work long and draining days overseas. These soldiers would work every day for extensive hours while also bearing the heat of the Iraqi desert. While on base, it was helpful to the soldiers to find activities to busy themselves in order to reset from these long days.

“What helped me was working out and relieving stress at the gym on the base; while overseas, I was fortunate to have access to a gym facility on our base to work out. This helped manage the day-to-day stress, and what were 10-12-hour days, seven days a week. I never really had a day off,” Shanley said.

Living in Iraq is no easy task for any soldier. For many, this is their first experience working in the grueling, hot deserts. However, this allows the soldiers to appreciate their return home even more.

“The one thing I vividly remember when I returned home from Iraq in the summer of 2007 was all the green leaves on the trees; I spent 16 months in the brown desert, it was all brown. So coming back home in the summer really hit me in a positive way – it was refreshing. You really learn to appreciate sleeping on your own bed and being able to control your own days,” Shanley said.

For many active members of the military, it is uncertain when the call to duty will come; for many this can include leaving young children behind. Being deployed with young children can be impactful on spouses as they try to navigate how to run their family while their other half is overseas. Keegan Wilson experienced this firsthand when her husband was deployed.

“Before my spouse was deployed, things felt a mix of normal and heavy all at once, the days leading up were filled with trying to soak in every small moment while also making sure everything was set for when he’d be away. The day he actually left was one of those moments where you’re proud and heartbroken at the same time. I tried to stay strong for the kids, but goodbyes are never easy,” Wilson said.

While some military members experience being on base alone, many will have children while stationed. For junior Ingrid Baker she spent many of her childhood years living on a Navy base while her father was in active duty. She would witness her dad leaving to go pilot cargo helicopters, and he would typically return many days later.

As a child, Baker didn’t have as many opportunities while living on base; she would spend lots of time in the military base and make friends with lots of the other children. On base, children still receive the same schooling, while also trying to live a typical life like others around them. However, while trying to live this normal life, there was still always a part that felt different than what other children were experiencing.

“My childhood was definitely different from others based on the fact that I have gotten to live in such different and unique places; the best way to describe the military bases that I lived around is an enclosed community. You have to have a valid military ID or be with someone with a military ID to enter a base. This has shaped me to be more open to the world around me and also generally well-informed,” Baker said.

Children who are involved with their parents in the military truly do get unforgettable experiences and memories. For these children, they get to encounter what life is like on base without actually being in the military. They can also receive inspirational life lessons through their parents’ active duty.

“My parents are very inspiring to me because they’ve lived unique lives through the military. They have gotten to travel and live in a lot of foreign places, gaining unique experiences. While we lived in Hawaii, we went on a military cargo plane to go on vacation to Japan,” Baker said.

During deployment, it is crucial to make sure to maintain a relationship with family and children, as leaving home for long periods of time can greatly impact them. While some military members may not have access to be able to contact their families, others are very fortunate to have this communication. The Wilson household was extremely lucky to have this opportunity to talk to their deployed dad whenever he was able.

“We made sure to stay connected through calls, video chats, and photos, the kids lit up every time they heard his voice. Our normal days looked a lot like any other family’s with school, work, and baseball practice, but there was always a missing piece. Even small things like family dinners felt harder because he wasn’t there,” Wilson said.

As children, the most exciting news to receive was that you’d finally see your parents again after deployment. The anticipation rises more each day, as the day begins to creep closer to your family’s reunion. For the Wilsons, this day seemed to come after what felt like forever.

“There was so much excitement and nervous energy in the air, we counted down the days, and the night before felt like Christmas Eve. Looking back, that time apart taught us so much about resilience, patience, and appreciation. We learned to value small things and not take time together for granted,” Wilson said.

Navigating how to maintain a family relationship while one spouse is deployed is extremely difficult. Many other service members have the difficulty of maintaining this family relationship while serving with their children living on base with them. This was the case for Eric Baker, a pilot in the Navy.

Eric Baker attended the Naval Academy before beginning his 20 years of active duty in the Navy. While being in active service, it can be very hard to find a spouse as a result of moving constantly or not being in the same country. When Eric Baker met his wife, they were both actively serving in the Navy.

“Most military branches will move you around every two to three years as far as active duty, so if you find somebody that you want to spend the rest of your life with, it’s pretty tough. There are a lot of married military couples, and we decided that one of us would get out of the military and make it easier to stay together. We were just at the age we wanted to have kids, want to start a family, so it was pretty easy having one person in the military,” Eric Baker said.

While on base, the U.S. military tries to make it a comfortable environment for families to live in. As a result of this, there are many shops, playgrounds and sports teams for children to enjoy themselves at. They can spend most of their days trying to behave like other children would outside of base.

Near many of the Navy bases, there are beaches for children to spend time with their families and truly have an enjoyable experience while on the base. This can include biking around the neighborhood and hanging out with friends. Since this is such a tight-knit community while on base, unbreakable bonds are truly formed between other children and parents.

“They try to make it as easy as they can, and comfortable as they can, for the families. There’s a lot of camaraderie with the military families, so everybody is moving around. Everyone tries to make friends quickly, and it is very helpful in welcoming new people, I think they do a really good job of making a community quickly,” Eric Baker said.

Although military life can be challenging, it also includes many light-hearted moments on base.

“We would ride bikes to this pool on base, and it was super, super cold, the pool was not heated at all, but the kids would love it, and they would swim all day long, and I would be freezing in the pool,” Eric Baker said.

Important to many, Veterans Day is a holiday that honors those who have served. Military members have gone through countless trials and tribulations; however, they are still fighting for citizens back at home. They have left behind lots of important things at home or have made the sacrifice to care for their children while also serving on active duty.

“Being away from home makes you truly appreciate being home. You never know what you have until you no longer have it,” Shanley said.