You Go Girls!

Mother, and Daughter join Va National Guard

"A South Boston mother and daughter have joined the Virginia Army NationalGuard together -- recruited by their brother and uncle.
Wanda Seate, 40, andher daughter, Ashley Elliott, 21, will leave for Army basic training at FortJackson, S.C., tomorrow.

Their recruiter was Staff Sgt. Jonathan Rhew,Wanda's brother and Ashley's uncle.
Last spring, Rhew was explaining toElliott how the Guard could help her realize her dream of going tocollege.

When Seate heard his pitch, "I told Jon, if I was young enough, I'd
go in right away," Seate recalled yesterday.

"You know, they just raised theage limit to 42," Rhew told his sister.

"Where's the paper?" Seate told him.

"I'm going."

And Elliott went, too.

"It's a privilege for me to be here to
serve my country," Seate said. "It's always something I've wanted to do."

My hat's off to you ladies!

Of course the T-D had to sprinkle just a little bit of morose on all this patriotism:

"More than 1,700 of Virginia Army Guard soldiers are serving in Iraq now,
and almost 500 are serving on peacekeeping duties in Kosovo. Guard soldiers can
anticipate being deployed at least once during a normal six-year enlistment,
officials say.

Six state Guard soldiers have died in combat in Iraq and
Afghanistan."

Elliot injected this bit of wisdom:

"There's more a chance of being shot at going down the road or leaving a club,"
said Elliott. "Nothing's going to happen to me that's not meant to happen."

Sad but true. Be safe girls, make us proud!

-Blazer