US military families ride ‘roller coaster of emotions’ over six months of Iran war
Since the United States went to war with Iran six months ago, Courtney Sanders has been helping soldiers’ families fill the gaps left by their loved ones.
There are school pickups to coordinate, lost incomes to supplement — and the ever-present separation anxiety.
“It’s like being on pins and needles all of the time,” Sanders said.
She leads the Chicagoland chapter of Blue Star Families, the nation’s largest nonprofit serving military families, and her own daughters are in the US Navy. They have served in various overseas locations over the past six months, including the Middle East. The US has more than 50,000 troops stationed across the region and has deployed thousands of additional Marines and sailors to support the war effort. Eighteen US service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 750 wounded. During the war’s on-and-off fighting, shuttle diplomacy and failed peace talks, military families have experienced a “roller coaster of emotions,” Sanders said. “The moment that you feel you’re able to take a breath, you get gut-punched again.”
