CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The final leg of Sgt. Andy Youngs’ journey from Iraq was aboard a big, white charter bus along hilly Interstate 24 into the arms of his 22-year-old wife, Emily, and 2-year-old son, Ethyn.
In the year since Sgt. Youngs was deployed with the 252nd Army National Guard Military Police Company, Mrs. Youngs has watched their blond-haired son grow taller and learn to walk and talk. She’s even bought a home without her husband by her side.
“Andy saw him walk for his first time when he was home on leave in December, but now he’s talking up a storm,” Mrs. Youngs said just before her husband arrived home from his yearlong mission. “Keeping in touch by the Web cam has been amazing. Ethyn swears Daddy lives in the computer.”
But no virtual experience can compare to seeing dad in person, and on Sunday, Mrs. Youngs and dozens of other Army wives and husbands shared the hope that this deployment would be the final dispatch to Iraq.