Can't count the days

Military | Combat deployment can be especially tough for reservist families. The Virginia National Guard and others are trying to help | Les Sillars

Patrick McCarron joined the Virginia National Guard in the wake of 9/11, says his wife Inna, because “it just shook him so much. He wanted to do something.” So Mr. McCarron, who worked in maintenance at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va., spent the next few years as a “weekend warrior.” They knew he could be shipped overseas but, like many Guard and Reserve recruits, “thought it would be a more local-type thing,” she says, probably helping with homeland security.

They were mistaken. Sgt. McCarron of the 116th Infantry unit was activated in March, 2004. For Mrs. McCarron it was a terrible shock: “I just wanted to cry.” She was newly pregnant, had four kids, and had just learned how to drive (they met in her native Kazakhstan 12 years ago). He left for Afghanistan in July, leaving behind Inna, Michael, 2, Dorothy, 5, and twins Alex and Claudia, 7. Aileen was born several weeks later.