Thread by @TrinityResists

Since I’ve experienced it 1st hand more than once— I’m going to tell you what it’s like when you have a loved one & immediate family member who’s serving in a combat zone away from you, or is suddenly deployed with less than 24 hours notice to a war zone…

Thread
#NoWarWithIran

Before they leave, you scramble to make sure everything’s in order:
—Finances
—Wills
—Last minute checks for next of kin notifications…just in case

Time always comes too fast—You wait til the last second watching their plane & your heart depart.
And you feel gutted & terrified.

You spend hours, days & sometimes, weeks waiting to hear from them.
And when you don’t, even though you swore you wouldn’t, you finally give in—terrified of what you may find & check the news anyway—to look for stories of air strikes or hostile activity in their part of the world

When you do hear from them, you are so relieved & thankful—but it’s fleeting.
Their voice is the only tangible thing that lets you know they’re safe—you know you have to get off the phone eventually.
So you hang up fearful it will be the last time you hear them say, “I love you.”

When the latest news of bombings is where they’re deployed, you go into the restroom at work to hide away & have a silent cry—& wait—to hear if your family & life will be altered, irrevocably.

Your civilian co-workers give you *that* look on those days.

https://twitter.com/bbcworld/status/1214812607447736321?s=21

6/

If you’re stationed overseas, it’s worse when they go—
You’re away from your extended family back in the states so your only support are other families of those deployed.
When you force yourself to go out with them, it’s the same consuming conversations, “Did you hear from…”

7/

Your body literally runs cold if someone knocks on your door when you’re not expecting company— you find it’s just the neighbor kid come over to play, or that Amazon delivery— not military members making a next of kin notification visit that you had feared.

#NoWarWithIran

After, you’re so relieved it’s not them.

You break down and cry—but Only if you’re alone.

Otherwise, closets work well to hide in, away from your family and/or children, so that you can pull yourself together to be strong for them— all due to a simple, benign knock on the door.

You see, military families—we give each other heads up before knocking on the doors of families with members deployed, for this reason.

Trump will never know & doesn’t care to know, the day to day sacrifices military & their families make to serve our country—CONUS or overseas.

I won’t get into what it’s like when a dear friend’s spouse or parent is injured—or worse—due to combat. It’s tragic & horrifying on too many levels.

So when he mocks POWs & denigrates gold star families who gave the ultimate sacrifice, it’s the worst dishonor a POTUS* can do.

The certainty military families left behind have is that life goes on— You have to function normally for your family, despite it all.

You keep life as “normal” as possible for your family & kids knowing the “what-ifs” parents & older kids face while their parent is in harm’s way

You try to shield young ones from the news to put the worry on you, but they still hear—

You wake daily, often after another nightmare-filled or sleepless night, workout(a necessity), shower & kids go off to school after hugs—which are tighter, compensating for missing parents.

13/

And after you tell yourself for the millionth time, “this is what we signed up for”— you count the days Again IF you know when their deployment ends.
This daily activity is paramount for kids.

You all wish away time until they’re home safe again…

14/
I am SO grateful my veteran family member never had to serve under the volatility of an unhinged, impeached & clearly incompetent, warmongering CIC*— who has continuously broken the laws of our Constitution since the day he was inaugurated and arguably in dereliction of duty.

15/
A true world leader would not be running his government via Twitter, nor acting on the behalf of America & threatening to commit war crimes, or escalating war on a social media app.

This alone, makes him unfit to serve.

It’s one of many reasons to #ImpeachAndRemoveTrumpNOW

16/
He’s Not de-escalating war w/Iran as he, Pompeo, et. al wants you to believe— the US & the world is less safe bc of Trump.

The reality is the peril to our military & family members, and federal employees serving around the globe, has increased—exponentially.

#NoWarWithIran

Aside from dodging the draft 5X, a guy with zero military experience guaranteed war by killing a general on a whim to distract from his impeachment.

He’s escalating war via twitter with no remorse & a clear disdain for human lives this may cost, while sitting on a golf course.

Trump has repeatedly ignored, forced resignations, or fired lifelong experts of national security, foreign policy & our military.

Instead, he uses our military to show off their supremacy in dictator displays, while he treats them as pawns to wage war.

Watching the latest Trump atrocities the past several days was one of my greatest fears with him from the beginning: his predictable war come to fruition. And now it’s here.

I had feared we’d find deadly consequences from Iran’s air strikes in Iraq—but it appears they weren’t.

20/
The unpredictable whims of this impeached POTUS* & blind supporting calls for war from his cult base are a game to them.

Trump’s actions have killed our allies.

Military members with families who love them are in harm’s way—daily.

We must never forget this.

#NoWarWithlran

So I say this to #MAGA supporters who call for #TrumpsWar & callously discount the human lives behind Trump’s rhetoric, volatility & actions:

You claim to be pro-life, yet are spreading propaganda & flat out lies & worse— calling for another senseless war, this time with #Iran…

#MAGA & #KAG—

PROVE your “patriotism” by heading to your nearest recruiter’s office & sign on that dotted line—

Or better yet, send your daughters, sons & grandchildren to fight in the sand for #TrumpsWar if you’re ineligible, but still waging war behind your keyboard.

I’m anti-war but a fierce advocate of our military & vets—
True patriotism means supporting NOT sending troops to war.

War must always be the last choice.
War means diplomacy has failed.
War means leadership has failed.

War IS failure.

#IVotedForHillary

https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/738835931898257408?s=21

EOT—I ask you to do 2 things:

1️⃣ Call your 3 reps to say #NoWarWithIran 📲[phone]

If you don’t have your Reps in your phone contacts by now, a reminder to do this when you call.

2️⃣ Join me in a #ProtestForPeace
TODAY, Jan 9

Find your event here⤵️
act.moveon.org/event/no-war-w…

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