At first, she wanted to talk about everything during their frequent phone calls. "It didn't take long for me to ask him not to tell me everything. I just wanted to know if he's OK and if the guys are OK in the unit and that the mission went well." The overabundance of information made them both worry more.

He did tell her about the explosion that led to his receiving the Purple Heart. "He called me and told me about it a few days later," she said. "He was the driver and, I guess, they hit it (an IED). It exploded and he got mild traumatic brain injury, hearing damage, and he hurt his shoulder."

Cheri Shute's husband, Staff Sgt. Gordon Shute, also received a Purple Heart after an IED-related injury. The abundance of e-mail and cell phone calls puts pressure on soldiers to deliver information home quickly, in some cases.

"He called me and said 'I want to tell you what happened before you hear it from anybody else,'" she said. "The only detail I know is that people in the truck behind him were very surprised anybody survived in (his) truck. He said armor on the vehicle is what saved his life."

She and Whitney Rinck said the recognition that comes with the Purple Heart is important to the soldiers. "Gordon is one of those people who says that if you're going to be in the military, you deserve every pat on the back you get. It's a big deal for him. As a squad leader, he writes awards for his boys because he thinks everybody deserves that."

Jennie Taylor said her husband describes concussions as the bullets of today's war and are the threat soldiers worry about more than actual bullets or grenades.

"The concussions are real but you can't see them. They don't know how deep they go or what repercussions are going to be later," Cheri Shute said. "He seems to be OK."

Several in the group said this week's anniversary is not important. "I stay out of the politics," Cheri Shute said, "But I hope we don't pull out before the work is done."

"It's just another day," Brent Taylor said. "Our missions and the war here go on no matter what. And I like it that way; I like to stay busy around significant dates, so there is not a lot of time to get homesick."

At home, people in the community are generally supportive, Cheri Shute said. "Maybe that is because I only associate with people I think will be supportive, I don't know."

As miserable as war is, the families at home have learned a lot from each other, Cheri Shute said. "We're grateful for the things that the people who have been in other wars have been able to turn around and teach us."

Brent Taylor said the amount of attention deployed soldiers give to the news media varies greatly. He said he is following the presidential campaign very closely. "But most of my soldiers seem to be a little removed from it all. They are very focused on the mission that they are doing day-in and day-out."