Senior Devante Green’s father may have to travel a long distance to see his son graduate from high school.  

Green is one of many students in the country who have a parent in the military, facing the everyday struggles of growing up while their mothers and fathers fight battles for the entire nation.

“It’s not likely he will miss it, but it is possible,” Green said of graduation. “Around that time is halfway for his allotted time, so he will take leave to come home.”

Green’s father is currently serving in Iraq. He was sent to Afghanistan for short periods of time during his son’s freshman and junior years in high school.  Though being separated from his father is an unfortunate reality for the younger Green, he understands how demanding a job in the military can be.   

“I moved in with him and now he is gone again during my most important year of school,” he said. “[But] you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

Sophomore Raul Cody can relate to the influence of the military on family life. His father was in the U.S. Navy until he was honorably discharged due to medical conditions.

“He went to war once or twice; he wasn’t really the guy in the field,” the younger Cody said. “He worked at a computer, like he does now. I’ve always thought it was pretty cool.  My dad’s a smart person.” Smiling, he added, “He’s a tech nerd.”

His father’s career affected him not only in emotion but also in location, since his family moved frequently during those times.

 “I’ve been out of the country, across a Middle Eastern island called Bahrain–it’s between Europe and Asia. I’ve moved to different parts of Florida, different parts of Georgia, here, different parts of Kansas,” Cody said.  

His thoughts on these changes are varied.  

“Exciting, lonely, different. It’s definitely made me a better person. I’ve met a lot of different people.”

His father agrees that the chance to travel abroad was worthwhile.

“I joined the military to have an opportunity to leave my community and see something different,” former Petty Officer 3rd Class Roderick Cody said. “The military gave me the opportunity to explore education from a hands-on perspective rather than in a classroom. The U.S. Navy also blessed me with the opportunity to see the world, literally.”

Now retired from the Navy, sophomore Amanda Mast’s father served for 26 years after graduating from Lawrence High School.  

“I don’t have a huge memory of it, but I do remember that it affected my mom a lot,” Mast said.  “She would work her extra jobs, but I remember most when Daddy would come home, because we would have huge parties.”

Even at a young age, the absence of a parent was hard on Mast.

“I think the longest that I can remember him being gone was six months, and when he came back, I had no idea who he was,” she said.

Now that he is retired, though, the Mast family receives many benefits from the government, such as the ability to live and shop on military bases.

“That helps us with groceries and stuff, because military stores aren’t allowed to add or lower costs,” she said. “They have to [charge what the goods are] actually worth.”

While careers in the military can strain family relationships, the children of servicemen and women recognize the good that their parents are doing for the nation.

“I am very proud of what he does,” Green said. “I think it takes a courageous, special person to serve. It is an honor I wouldn’t mind someday experiencing.”