It’s safe to say that each individual country loves their military and how they defend the citizens and each other from universal threats that may appear, but some people love them more than others, especially children. There are thousands of children who have a parent or close relative in the military and it usually impacts their personal and social lives. It would be hard if a young child had a parent in the Armed Forces; having to accept the fact that they may not come back home. Some people envy children of soldiers because they feel like they want a parent who is a hero and who makes a difference, but most people have no idea about how children in this situation live day to day; missing their parent/relative who is on the battlefield.If a parent is in the military it affects the child negatively because they’re parents are rarely with them and they spend most of the time worrying about them.

Most of the children are proud of their parents, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t miss them. According to Krissy Kolasheski, a child who was interviewed for the article, “There’s an empty space without my dad her. I miss him alot, and I worry about him” (Separated by War, 2015), she also stated, “I’m happy for the troops who will be coming home, but I’m a little sad that my dad won’t get to come home then” (Separated by War, 2015). When soldiers return from each tier in the army, their children are obviously scared for their parents lives. When each tier ends and soldiers come back, their spouses and children wait in anticipation hoping that their loved one is one of the soldiers who return home, but in reality; it’s not up to the families, it’s up to the generals and colonels who are above the soldiers to decide when they return home. As Miss. Kolasheski stated, she misses her father and to her it feels like there is an empty space without him; her feelings are understandable overall because a child without someone to guide them in life is 9 times out of 10 not going to know how to fill the void in their heart.

In some cases, both parents of a child are deployed in the army, sometimes they go together, and sometimes they’re deployed separately. According to Jeremy Beale, a 13 year old boy who was interviewed for an article titled “ARMY KIDS REPORTING”, When asked if it’s hard for his parents being gone; Beale stated, “Well, it's hard for the deployment. But the other one on base, usually they don't send them too far away, so he can come back and visit, like maybe once a week. Having my grandparents with me, it kind of helps me through it because of the fact that they're like second parents to me” (Army Kids Reporting, 2011). This statement clearly describes the mindset of an adolescent child who has both parents in the Armed Forces. Not only is it hard for them not to be there with him, but when deployment happens; he doesn’t know if one or both of his parents are going to be deployed into battle. The more that a child waits for their parent deployment, the more sad and disappointed when a parent leaves home. Some adolescents can’t stand to be away from their parents at all, if a child who is clingy to their parents had to watch their parent/parents get deployed, then they might feel abused, unwanted, alone, and forgotten.

Having a parent in the military will probably require the family to move from place to place in order to be closer to the parent who is in the military. According to Krissy Kolasheski, “It’s hard, because you have to make new friends every time. And sometimes you move to a place you don’t like and just have to make the best of it.” Not only do these children have a limited social life with their military parents, but they have a limited and complicated social life in general. If they have to constantly move from place to place, then they will keep making new friends, leave the location, move somewhere else, make new friends, and forget about the one that they just made at their old home. If they meet someone that they really get along with, they probably can’t get to attached to them because it’s likely that they’re going to move away again with their family and start all over again. This would be a very difficult situation for a child, especially a young child, to experience because this might cause them to not make friends easily because they might be afraid to lose a friend again.

In conclusion, children who have parents in the military usually miss their parents as long as they’re gone on the battlefield. These children must be some of the bravest in the world because of their intent and determination to have faith that their parents will return to them safely. No matter who you are, what your story is, or how many people you know who are in the armed forces, now is not the time to ignore and forget children who don’t have parents most of the time because they’re on the battlefield defending this country from foreign threats that invade it. These children may be just as brave as their soldier parents because of the fact that they never lose hope. These children are strong, brave, hopeful, and inspirational; they are the children of Generals.     

                                                                                   
Works Cited
"Army Kids Reporting." Soldiers 66.4 (2011): 39. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Marino Walters, Jennifer. Separated by War. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 15 Sept, 2015.