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Hard on the other side too. Military mothers all find their own ways to cope with being away. Some sleep with pictures in their pillowcases. Some have nightmares about their children being in pain or in trouble. Some recorded favorite books or hymns or lullabies before they left, so their kids could remember what Mama sounds like. Some put up maps in their children's bedrooms, so they will know where Mom is. Laura carries her family pictures in the humvee that takes her across the desert between base camps, and she doesn't have to be prompted to take them out.
Ever since Thanksgiving, at Fort Campbell, as at dozens of other Army posts around the country, rumors about deployment had been racing around--but then the date would be pushed back, pushed back. The Richardsons got to have Christmas. That was a gift. Then more weeks passed, more rumors. It was that kind of winter, of rushing and waiting, counting days and counting blessings. "The hardest thing about any deployment to the gulf will be leaving her," said Laura of her daughter. When Jim and Laura broke the news that they were both heading overseas, Lauren admitted that she was scared: "Mom said, 'We gotta go. But don't worry. Everything's going to be O.K. Everything's going to be O.K.'"
In the Army, where readiness is all, Laura is a pro. Over the years, whenever she and Jim were reassigned, to Alabama or Kansas or Virginia or Texas, Laura would be on the phone with friends at the next post--to find out what the schools were like and what was a good neighborhood and to interview potential baby sitters. And always to search for families that share their traditional values and that could serve as surrogate parents in the event that she and Jim had to ship out at the same time.
That is how Lauren comes to be living in "the hotel" now that her parents are both away. It's actually her friend Callie's house, and they call their bedroom the hotel because it has twin beds side by side. Callie's mother Cecilia, whose husband is also in the gulf, offered to take Lauren in so she could finish eighth grade with the rest of her class, before going off to spend the summer with her grandparents in Colorado. There is no telling when Mom and Dad will be home, but this way Lauren at least gets to stay a little normal a little while longer. "I like sleeping over at a friend's house for a month. It's fun. But it's not home," she says, not finding fault, just stating a fact.
Only about 1 in 20 officers who start out as lieutenants ever gets a battalion command, and never before has a couple gone to war commanding battalions in the same Army unit. But the 101st has a habit of making history: during World War II, it led the way on D-day, dropping in the night before the invasion. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, the Screaming Eagles were the "first band in the sand" and fired the first shot.