A large portion of soldiers serving in America’s armed forces have children at home. Even Chapin is impacted, as many students have parents stationed overseas.

Junior Ben McKie has adapted to life without his father at home.

“I was never really affected by his choice to be in the military up until this past year. It was kind of like living a normal life but then all the sudden he just got pulled away.”

McKie’s father is often away for short periods of time, working at the Irmo Fire Department. But life with a father who is at war thousands of miles away is different.

McKie says, “Not being able to pick up your phone and call him, and have proof that he’s there is really weird, especially when you used to have him just a call away all the time.”

McKie’s father has been on the Navy Reserve since before McKie was born, and just recently returned to the States.

Junior Dani Hix’s father is currently serving,

“My dad’s in the FBI, so he’s not really in a military branch but it’s basically the same thing. Normally he heads up the cyber terrorism unit or the counter terrorism unit. He’s in Iraq for a year long tour, and is in Baghdad.”

People whose parents are at war rely on certain things to pull them through. What helped McKie was, “Family. I remember I visited a lot with my grandma, and my uncles and aunts. I leaned a lot on my closer family and friends. When he was gone it was almost like you had more people trying to do whatever they could for you.”

Hix takes comfort in some of her father’s stories about life in his spare time, “I hear about the ‘games’ they have to keep themselves busy. They’ll get all military and government officials to participate in a road race around the embassy. They tried to plant grass outside of the embassy, and because birds kept coming to eat it, they put a scarecrow up.”

All the same, life with a parent at war is a battle itself. McKie states, “You have to be able to learn to adapt and figure out ways to get stuff done that would normally be done by them. No matter how many times they leave it’s hard, and I’m not going to lie to you, you’re going to cry.” 

It is a hard life, but a proud life to lead. Hix believes,

“It motivates me at times and kills me at times. I know I’ll always aspire to be as good as him. Sometimes it’s hard to get up and pay attention in classes when I know he could die. It’s a hard reality really, but something you kind of have to live with no matter how hard it is. Because it’s his dream.”