Working Ranch Magazine - Index

Working Ranch Magazine - magazine - Index

toppin’
BY
out
TIM O’BYRNE
(Above) Christine O’Byrne slices open an MRE
she got off Ebay. It was her idea to eat these
over the Holidays for two reasons; to honor
the service men and women who were
deployed overseas, and to better relate to our
son, Mark, who is currently serving his second
tour in Iraq. (Right) L Cpl Mark O’Byrne with
the 1/1 Marines, Iraq, 2007.
RANCH KIDS IN THE TRENCHES
Well, another Christmas tree can go back in the box or out
to the burning pit. It’s over, and for some ranching families,
the holiday season was bittersweet. For those of us
with a family member overseas (our son, Mark, is currently
serving his second tour with the 1/1 Marines in Iraq) it goes
beyond an empty place setting at the table.
Each day begins with a pensive visit to the Department
of Defense website casualty list. It’s a preparation ritual
with two razor sharp edges. On one hand you hope you
don’t see a 1/1 Marine up there, but your heart still aches
for the families of every new name added to the list. The
finality of reading those names every morning hits hard,
like getting bucked off onto frozen ground. A website list
of KIA’s posted to cyberspace doesn’t seem tangible; it slips
through your fingers like mist on a lake. You can’t kick it,
or pound it with desperate fists like you can the cold, polished
face of a tombstone. But there is no denying that the
names appear there every morning, each one representing
the deep despair of yet another American family.
Our son decided to join the Marines when he was 17. At first
we felt somewhat alone as parents, but when Wade Cooper,
buckaroo boss up at the ZX, and his wife Janet informed me
16 |WORKING RANCH | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008
that their daughter signed up too, it
made the going a lot less empty. Not
much later, R.W. Hampton and his wife
Lisa told me that their young son did
the same thing. Now here were three
families with big-outfit backgrounds
saying goodbye to their ranch-raised
kids, hoping for the best, and ready to
deal with the worst. And we’re certainly
not alone, there are plenty of you out
there in the same boat.
This holiday season my wife, Christine, hatched yet
another brilliant plan. If our son was stuck in the Sand Box
eating Marine chow over Christmas, the least we could do
was forego the usual holiday fare. So she went on Ebay and
ordered up a couple yummy boxes of U.S. Government
MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat). It was our way to connect with
the men and women over the years who willingly sacrificed
a home-cooked feast to defend our right to enjoy the
freedom to do so.
HOW ‘BOUT THEM COWGIRLS
It’s hard not to be a George Strait fan because he personifies
everything ranching has been, should be and can be.
He plays the part at all times (well, except for the first half
of that movie he made where he had the goofy-lookin’
ponytail). He’s cool, confident and a long-term player. But