Photo: Boys walking with Dad to load bags on Deployment Day. I think of the entire deployment cycle like some kind of crazy monster roller-coaster. The feeling I get when my Soldier brings home the 'official' deployment orders? Just like how I feel when the amusement park attendant snaps me into my roller-coaster seat ... the moment I realize There's no getting off this ride until the end. It always takes my breath away and causes a mild (sometimes-not-so-mild) form of panic to bubble up in me. Then the ride starts (slowly, painfully) tic-tic-ticking upwards to the top of the first hill. It's agonizing, really, knowing that it's about to kick-off in full-force and there is absolutely NOTHING you can do about it. No amount of screaming, sobbing, pleading, persuading, or bargaining can make it stop. The top of the first hill comes closer and closer and just when you think you cannot stand the suspense, the waiting, the dreading of what's to come for one mor...