ST. IGNATIUS – During a recent deployment in the Middle East, U.S. Army Staff Sgt.  Paul  Adams said a child was playing near him and when he got closer she looked up.

“The smile on her face was radiant,” he said, and after an emotional pause, he continued. “In her eyes, I saw my wife and children. For just a brief moment, I was able to forget about where I was and what I was there to do. I was home again.”

With a military career spanning 21 years including three extended deployments to Operation Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Adams family knows what sacrifice really means and, as a family, will continue to answer when their country calls.

“Daisy, my wife, is the strength behind every tour,” said Adams. “It takes a tremendous strength to take on my roles as well as her own while I am away, and I rest just a little easier knowing how capable she is.”

As is the story of many proud enlisted families, it is not just the soldier that is asked to serve.

The wives, husbands and children that remain, completing the routine tasks, are also the strength freedom depends upon.

Just as the soldier yearns for the comforts of home during deployment, their families are praying and entrusting the well-being of their loved ones to what quickly becomes an extended family. A family of soldiers, sharing the burden and responsibility a nation has laid at their feet.  

“There is a pride in serving your country and every individual across the world as we know it, deserves freedom,” Adams said. “It is not our place as soldiers to deem who is deserving of us to come to their aid. We volunteer all of ourselves for no other reason than that we were asked to.”

As the local Mission Valley Honor Guard made up of veterans from every branch of service proudly leads parades, ceremonies, and funerals, it is easy to notice the emotion of most in attendance.

“A soldier has to prepare themselves mentally and physically for conflict and sometimes it may appear ‘cold or unfeeling’ to friends and family prior to a deployment,” Adams said. “What a soldier sees and on occasion is asked to do is trying to the soul. Without some type of internal defense, it could break even the strongest of men.”

Whether it is honor to country, lands or family, more veterans live in Montana than any other state.

 “We as husbands, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters are still there with our loved ones,” Adams said. “We just have to wear a different uniform for a little while.”