Military families respond to news of war with cheers, fear, and hope for safe returns

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- As the bombs dropped on Iraq, tears fell from Earl Hobbs' eyes.

Watching images of Baghdad on television Wednesday at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post, he thought of his son, who was deployed a month ago with the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell.

"This is a good thing. My boy thinks so too," said Hobbs, whose hands and legs were shaking as he watched with a dozen veterans.

"The only thing is, one man is endangering my son," said Hobbs, 45. "I've always been able to protect him, and now I can't."

Across the country, military families reacted to the start of war with a mix of fear and hope that their loved ones would soon return to them.

"The waiting for something to start is the worst," said Kelly Wooden of Edmond, Okla., whose husband is flying near Iraq for the Air National Guard. "Now that something is starting, it's one more moment closer to them getting home."

In Shawsville, Va., Tamara Heskett watched news of the war's start with two of her seven children. Her husband supervises 280 sailors who assemble the bombs on board the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk.

"When I heard the first explosion, I shed a little tear thinking about the guys on the ground. When they said it may have come from the carriers in the gulf, I said, 'Hoo-hah' because that's where my husband is stationed."

Heskett said she hasn't seen her husband since July 2002, the last time he was home in Virginia Beach.

"I am the family right now. It's just me and the kids," she said. "Now that it's begun we know that somewhere along the line there has got to be an end, hopefully."

Elaine Strickland, who has a brother and a sister deployed to the Persian Gulf while another sister awaits orders in Texas, was worried but hopeful. She said they can no longer send e-mails for security reasons, and she has to wait for letters.

"I'm sure everybody's OK. I'm sure they're eager to get this over with," said Strickland, of Boulder, Colo. "I'm worried right now because it's actually going to happen. We don't know exactly what Iraq has in mind."

Hallie Cornell of Erie, Pa., put her 4- and 6-year-old daughters to bed before turning on the television news. Her husband is an Army reservist in Fort Drum, N.Y., with the 233rd Quartermaster Company.

"When you mention war, they think Daddy's involved in it," she said. "I'm just worried. A little scared. I wasn't expecting it to start tonight."

Suzanne Hoefler of Coronado, Calif., said her anxiety about when the war would begin was only replaced by fears for the safety of her husband. Navy Petty Officer John Hoefler left in January for the Persian Gulf.

"I thought I was prepared for this, but I'm really not," she said. "Everybody's trying to take my mind off of it, but it's never off of it because my husband is in the area."