or John and Cathy both, coming home from deployment was what they most looked forward to. But just as each deployment was different, so too was each homecoming. And now that John has a family of his own, priorities have shifted. John's wife Jenny is also an Active Duty Soldier, which makes raising two young daughters a challenge.

"John and Jenny both got orders for Korea, but the Army made arrangements for them to take the girls with them," says Cathy. "It was hard to be apart from all of them for that time, but they were together and that's reassuring to me."

With Jenny still in Korea, Cathy assumes her double role of parent-grandparent—a role she is happy to accept. Yet even as John readjusts to home life and being a father, future deployments could be on the horizon.

John's view of deployment has
changed since he left home as a
teenager seven years ago. Now,
while it's hard to leave his
daughters, their presence
actually makes it easier for
him to go-he just looks at their
picture to know what
he's fighting for.