I have been away from my family for 10 months while deployed to the Middle East. My mother Queen Bennett could not stand for me to be away from her for so long and she worried about me so much. I had to call home everyday so that she would not call the Red Cross and report me missing. Her birthday was on August 3rd, 2014. This has made the 2nd birthday of hers that I’ve missed while training and being deployed. But on August 16 2014, my mother got the suprise of her life. I came home that day unannounced and she melted in my arms. My mother is disabled with scoliosis and my father David Bennett is a Cancer Survivor. Both of my parents have taken good care of my older brother SGT Antaues Bennett, my younger sister Davenia Bennett and myself. My parents sent me to College and when finances got tough for me to finish school, I decided to join the Army to take some of the weight off my parent’s shoulders to pay for my college education. I love my parents to death for raising me to be all I can be and taking care of me. Now its my time to take care of them.
-Army SPC, Chaqueena L. Bennett