By Brenda Sexton, The Courier-Herald
Ray and Mary Arnold are hanging two Blue Star Flag Cards in their Enumclaw home. One is for their son Patrick, a 1999 Enumclaw High School graduate, who has left with the Army's 101st Airborne for a destination somewhere in the Middle East. The other is for their son Clayton, a 2000 EHS graduate, with the Army's 82nd Airborne in Kuwait.
Across the river in Buckley, Larry and Kathie Kent are doing the same for their sons Benjamin Riehm, a 1996 White River High School graduate and a corporal in the United States Marine Corps, who is currently at Camp Pendleton, Calif., awaiting orders, and Matthew Riehm, a 2001 WRHS graduate, Airman 1st Class with United States Air Force, who is in Germany rotating in and out of Kuwait.
Blue Star Flag Cards became popular as a public service during World War I as families started placing them in their home windows and store shops to honor family members and employees in the military. With increased military activity and the growing threat of war, Blue Stars are again gaining popularity across the United States.
The Arnolds and Kents are among several Plateau families who are shipping not just one child off toward the build up to war, but two.
"It's a very different kind of empty now," said Kathie Kent, who hangs her sons' photographs and an American flag on the side of her cash register in the White River High cafeteria where she works. "It makes it pretty rough when you have two sons that are gone."
Kent said when the boys were in boot camp she could write a letter and know where they would be when they read it.
"I don't know where they will be when they read it and that puts a different twist on writing letters. It makes it difficult," she said.
Ray Arnold echoes her sentiment.
"It's difficult," said Arnold, who served in the military in Korea, although never fought. "You have to deal with it. It's their decision to go in."
But he's quick to admit his apprehension. "I'm scared to death," he said. "I trust they are well-trained and well-equipped."
He said the boys are confident. They talk about getting in, getting the job done and getting out.
"They understood that going in," he said. "They've been talking about going into the military since they were 10."
In fact, due to a variety of circumstances, the brothers went through basic training together.
"I'm very proud of them, but the whole risk involved…," Arnold said.
The risks are not totally outlined yet, but the United States has deployed 215,000 troops to the Persian Gulf and 100,000 to Kuwait. And the announcement of war looms on the horizon.
Both families try to stay on top of the latest news.
"The TV is on 24/7. I hardly sleep," Arnold said, claiming to be riveted to the remote. "I have all the news channels going."
"The news is really hard, but I stayed glued to it," Kent said. "I want to stay abreast of things for my sons' sake."
Kent is no stranger to the military. Her father was military, and she married a military man, twice. She said she always knows war is a possibility.
"The reality hit home when they loaded on the buses to go," she said.
"They're very patriotic. We're a very patriotic family," Kent said. "It's hard, but I'm very, very proud of them.
"I have a lot of friends and a lot of support," she said. "I believe in God and I believe he would never give me something I could not bear and I could not bear to lose my sons."
Brenda Sexton can be reached at bsexton@courierherald.com
