As soldiers deploy, Fort Bragg families look for community support

Neveah Ferry will turn 1 year old in a few weeks. Her father, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, will miss it.

Brianna Ferry, Neveah’s mother, said she and her husband learned he would be deployed while they were at a friend’s house on New Year’s Eve.

“Her husband was coming home from a deployment, and we were watching their kids,” Ferry said. “And he got the call.”

He and about 3,500 other members of the 82nd Airborne Division have since shipped out to the Middle East.

Brianna Ferry is a former paratrooper. She’s never deployed.

This is her husband's first deployment, and she understands the mission.

“Freedom isn’t free, and we have to make sacrifices everyday,” Ferry said. “We have to learn to over-adapt and overcome all of the obstacles that are in our way.”

She won't be alone overcoming the obstacles associated with having her husband deployed in harm’s way. She said her church and social media groups will be a big help.

“I go to Wives of Warriors,” she said. “We pray and we have prayer meetings and groups that we go to where we’re spending time with other spouses that are going through the same thing.”

Ferry said that while her husband is deployed, she's not complaining. She just wants three things from the community: understanding, support and prayers.

“Just pray for them, and hopefully they’ll safely return,” she said.