Perspective: For families, war's toll can be devastating as unit heads back to 3rd tour

(12-24) 04:00 PST Hinesville, Ga. -- Staff Sgt. Rob Puckett cradled his 6-month-old son, Blake, in the lap of his camouflage pants, lovingly tugged at the baby's tiny fists and cooed. Blake giggled. Puckett's wife, Marcie, 26, and daughter, Emily, 4, cuddled in the shadow of a glittering Christmas tree. Jasmine, the yellow lab puppy, flopped on her back on the living room floor, begging to be scratched.

In a few days, Puckett, 31, will throw his duffel bag in the back of Marcie's black Nissan Pathfinder, and she will drive him to the Army base at Fort Stewart, Ga., 10 minutes away. They will exchange teary goodbyes. Then Marcie will head home, and Puckett will go to Iraq for a year.

Again.

"What really hurts is not just that we're going," said Puckett of Clarksville, Tenn., as he tickled Blake's chin, triggering a fresh cadence of baby giggles. "It's that we have to be going back so soon."

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