Fort Bragg families brace for deployment amid Ukraine-Russia tension
Thousands of Fort Bragg families are bracing for the possibility of their loved ones to be deployed to Eastern Europe.
On Monday, the Pentagon put 8,500 U.S. service members on high alert to be deployed as tensions between Russian and Ukraine continue to rise. Military sources told WRAL News the 3rd Brigade Combat team from the 82nd Airborne Division will be deployed in less than 72 hours.
It's an order that prompting family members to make the most of their time together.
"It's a little scary, just not knowing how long it's going to be and if I'll be able to talk to him or anything," said military wife Kim Brown.
Brown said she and her husband, Dawson, have been married for only seven months, and this would be their first time away from each other if he gets deployed.
"It's a little nerveracking not knowing if he'll come back or not," said Kim Brown.
President Joe Biden's administration wants to bolster the presence of U.S. troops in eastern Europe. It's a move that comes over fears Russia could invade Ukraine in the near future.
"It's like we're caught in the middle of something we have no control over," said Patricia Geddie, who has a daughter in the Navy and an Army Veteran son.
Geddie said she knows what it's like to cope with deployment.
"My children over there ... Are they going to be OK? What's going on? Are they coming back in one piece? It's just a lot being a mother," she said.
Geddie added that she has mixed feelings about the latest guidance from the federal government.
"My opinion, we're going to fight overe there to fight someone else's war ... I know that's what they're in the military for -- to fight for our country but they are going to fight for someone else's country," said Geddie.
But, it's an order that Dawson Brown said he's ready to take on.
"There's people that want to go. Other people, it's a big scary thing, so they're not quite wanting to go but [it's] kind of what you sign up for when you right your right hand," he said. "You fight for our country. You signed up for and come back in one piece."
This could be a mission involving about 3,000 troops
