As a father of a four-year-old daughter, the reason I go to work is to make sure that she is taken care of -- food in her stomach, clothes on her back, a roof over her head and a better future for her.
I was aware of the possibility that I could be away from my family with little to no contact when I joined the military, and I was prepared to do what I had to do to honor my service commitment.
Having said that, all of the training I have received could never have prepared me for, or empowered me to predict, how my work-life balance would be flipped upside down over the past several weeks.