RESTREPO: What A Parent Doesn't Know

Magazines, a calendar, ramen, mac-n-cheese, dried fruit, trail mix, chocolate, nuts, and a yo-yo.

Tonight, I'm packing a care package for a friend's son who is deployed to a combat zone. The friend is a journalist, the son a Marine. It's not the first time the son has been deployed, but his family worries endlessly. Whenever I meet another parent, I give them attention and respect, along with my card. I want them to contact me on nights they can't sleep. I look forward to seeing their photos when their sons our daughters come home. If they live close enough, I want them at my house for dinner. And should something happen, all of us should be there for one another as well.

Still, there's a lot us families don't know. The reasons are many. From them not wanting to upset us, to not being able to speak about some of the emotionally ratcheting things they have seen. But the journalist, who has embedded many times, knows the specifics and dangers the son faces. While each of us tries to find out as much as we can, my journalist friend knows so much more than most. While seemingly a good thing, it is a double-edged sword. The deadliness of the battle is all to real to this parent.

Here's Sterling Jones and Aaron Hijar of the film Restrepo talking about what they faced in the Korengal Valley. "No Man's Land"