As their husbands prepared to head to Bosnia, worried wives of U.S. soldiers got a chance to ask officers some tough questions.
But after a briefing that ranged from the threat of mines and snipers to advice on renewing vehicle permits while husbands are away, many of the wives left feeling frustrated.Tina Meadows, 21, of Pittsburgh, sobbed after one of the briefers said he had no clear answer to her query: Would U.S. troops withdraw from Bosnia if the fighting resumed?
"I'm more worried now," Meadows, who has a 3-year-old daughter, said after the Wednesday night briefing. She expects her husband, a military policeman, to patrol near the zone separating Bosnia's warring sides.
"I just want to know the truth. How much defending themselves do they have to do before they pull out?" she said. "If it's supposed to be peace, why do we have to worry about bombings, land mines and shooting?"
About 100 people - spouses, soldiers and squealing kids - took part in the meeting in a former cafeteria at the Kirch-Goens mechanized infantry base, about 30 miles north of Frankfurt.
"The fact that your spouse is about to deploy is probably pretty scary," Lt. Col. Jack Humphrey told the gathering as a projector shone a map of Bosnia onto the wall behind him.
A questioner wanted to know when her husband's unit would head to Bosnia. Humphrey told her there was no firm word but she shouldn't plan on spending Christmas with him.
Another woman asked if she could visit her husband in Bosnia if he was injured. The answer was no, but she could if he was evacuated to Germany.
Brigade chaplain Lt. Col. David Penland said more soldiers and their families had come to see him since the U.S. role in the Bosnian peace force took shape in recent weeks.
At the briefing, spouses were told that family counselors on the base would soon be on duty 24 hours a day. They also got mundane tips - like where to pick up road salt for snowy weather.
Yadira Wheeler, the 20-year-old wife of a Humvee military vehicle driver, dismissed the counseling efforts.
"No matter what you say to reassure the families it won't help because the soldiers don't want to be over there," said Wheeler, of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Becca McAllister of Leeszille, La., mother of a 3-week-old girl, said she was happy to find out she could send videos to her husband, a supply officer and gulf war veteran due to leave for Bosnia on Saturday.
But worry will never be far away.
"Is he going to come home in a body bag? I'll be thinking about this every day," McAllister said.