Blog from the founder of the charity Little Troopers. Military wife and mum sharing thoughts and feelings of being a British Armed Forces family.

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all children with parents serving in the British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. We provide fundamental resources, initiatives and events to ease and aid repeated separation periods aiming to keep parent and child connected and bonded even when miles apart

7 Mar 2011

A daddy returns to Afghanistan...

Two weeks (just under) of rest leave flys by...you long for it to arrive and then it is over. The first week can be unsettling with the second week often being the best week you have had for months! We had a ball and squeezed as much in as possible including some filming!


Madison & Daddy at Ludlow Castle
BFBS News came and we recorded a lovely little piece which I think we will treasure forever, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Sue Kinnear the reporter at BFBS who truely is fantastic, heres the piece:
http://www.bfbs.com/news/uk/forces-children-take-mountain-challenge-help-heroes-44690.html

The seperation cycle starts all over again...as you near the end of the two weeks.....theres nothing you can do, it is out of your control, they are going back.
Listening to him read the last bedtime story of the two weeks is heartbreaking with Madison whispering 'I don't want you to go daddy' and griping on for dear life for minutes on end....shes had her daddy back and slowly has felt safe and secure again.
Army children face so many challenges and sometimes these are sometimes forgotton...I read an interesting article recently...sourced from the US yes but the challenges are the same:  http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/new-88543-military-life.html

When shes fast asleep a cleanly shaven daddy, smartly dressed in fresh uniform with his bag on his back leaves the house into the dark with a huge hug and an 'I'll be home before you know it' he wipes a tear from my cheek...I can almost hear my heart break a little bit....

He WILL be home soon though, the hardest, longest part is behind us and once again I am flying the flag for the Fetigan house....it is what us forces families do best! End of tour will be upon us in a flash...May is only round the corner.

So onwards with the week and with only 5 days until the trek there is so much to keep us busy until once again we are united as a family and Madison has her daddy back :-) xxx

2 comments:

  1. Louise fetigan7/3/11 11:35

    I had a lump in my throat reading that - it brought back so many memories of how horrible that last day can be & how hard it is for the kids. Good luck with the trek - fingers crossed the weather stays nice& dry x

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  2. Anonymous7/3/11 17:22

    Oh Lou I am sat here crying my eyes out wish we could have seen him but we will get down when he comes home big HUGS to you & Maddie xxx Jan

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