Deployment

My brother is preparing for possible deployment to Iraq so he can go build needed roads, runways, and the like. He builds "infrastructure". He will head for the base nearest his home city next Monday. There, he can expect to finally receive word whether or not he will be one of the troops shipping out. He wants to go. This is what he trained to do, and he is a good builder. The concern is that he will be building in places where people might be shooting at him or blowing up the ground he is attempting to build stuff on at any given time.
He was calling to ask if I would pray for his wife's Aunt Werma who has been dying very slowly of melanoma for years. With Jim planning to leave soon, he is thinking of the wife he will leave behind. The greatest damage he can perceive headed her way is the eventual death of this beloved aunt. He can't head that off or protect her from the grief that accompanies death for those left behind. He is, in his heart-of-hearts, hoping it will come while he is still here to accompany his wife to the funeral and to comfort her.
I will pray for him, for her, and for Werma (Hey, I didn't name her. It's a nickname anyway.). I find a similarity in considering the very different calls we seek to answer that could carry us each far from home and the resulting desire to prepare for deployment while also protecting loved ones who will remain behind for a time. Like Jim, I watch for the days to fall away from the calendar until it is time for my own deployment to take a temporary place amongst those serving far from home.