One great advantage (of deploying together) was being able to help mentor him and see his accomplishments, such as getting his warfare pin and putting on third class. Another advantage was having family with me during Christmas and New Year while deployed. I think the experience was great for both of us.

The detailer was the one to offer putting him on the ship with me. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm just very thankful that I've had this opportunity to serve along my son. I realize it's a once in a lifetime chance that most people will never experience.

It's great being stationed together. It makes it nice when I'm underway and away from home, yet I still have family with me.

We're benefit specialists. We help them through the bureaucratic maze of the VA and filing for benefits that they may be entitled to receive because of their service-connected wartime injuries.

This might help them understand just how different things were around here back then. My relatives had rested peacefully for more than 100 years in that little cemetery, which begs the question: Was it just dumb luck that they had never been disturbed before? Or is this evidence that our society's most basic standards of human decency are eroding?