Husband off to Iraq

My husband left for Iraq last Tuesday morning. The kids and I sent him off early in the morning. His first stop is Gulfport, MS. He has emailed twice and called once. The most important thing he told me was were he was going. It is Al Teqaddum in the Al Anbar region. Not good. The Seabees just lost another sailer there July 12th. I told myself I would not read the news or pay attention to whats going on over there. What I don't know won't hurt me, but I could not help myself. I may blog more about the war in Iraq now more than my usual posts. Need somewhere to air my concerns I guess.
He will be gone 9 months. Which is not bad compared to the other branches of the service. I have an employee who has been over there three times for 18 months. He is in the Army Reserves. We knew when the war broke out my husaband would have to go eventually. But I was hoping after over three years things would have settled down enough so he may not have to go. Wrong! It has actually gotten worse in Al Anbar from what I can tell. The Seabees lost two sailers last month. Also we do not hear about those injured, only those killed. How many I wonder? Its going to be a long 9 months.