Coping While Mom and Dad Are in Iraq

ByABC News
March 20, 2006, 3:25 PM

March 20, 2006 — -- Take a quick look around Northeast High School in Clarksville, Tenn., and it seems like any other. But here the worries of adolescents run deep and far.

One out of every four students at the school has a parent serving in the military who is deployed in Iraq. The school is right down the road from the Army's Fort Campbell, and most of the parents are part of the 101st Airborne Division that was involved in last week's Operation Swarmer.

When Rashonda Walker's parents left in September, she and her brother and sisters worried that they'd be separated. But their grandmother, Jacqueline Akram, left her job and apartment in Ohio and moved in for what she says is as long as necessary.

"My prayer is to make sure everybody comes back OK, and give me strength," Akram said, adding "You try to keep the family together, so when they come home, it's easier for them."

Akram has arthritis and diabetes, and said it sometimes is a challenge to keep up with the children, whom she describes as good students but full of energy. "They keep me busy," she said, "but it's not hard for me because I love them."

This is the second time in three years that both the children's mother, Melanie Harris, and stepfather, Anthony Harris, have been deployed.

Walker, 15, said worrying about them takes its toll. "I think the hardest part is knowing they live their lives as if it's their last day."

Her sister, 14-year-old Rasheena Walker, said she is anxious for them to return. "I just wait and wait and wait till they come back."

And their brother, 16-year-old Rayshawn Walker, said their parents miss out on a lot. "It seems like we're growing up so fast, and our parents are not there to watch it, to see how we grow."

Their parents' absences are hard on students at the school, said Melissa Champion, principal of Northeast High School. "I get to see things in their life that their parents probably should have seen."

There are moments when children want a parent nearby, cheering them on, happy for the victories. That's how student Tom Castagna felt when he won a trophy while his father was at war. "It was kind of hard," he said, "because it meant a lot to me."