Home and Away

David French worked his way through Harvard to become a constitutional attorney, but at the age of 37 he decided to serve in a different way by enlisting in the U.S. Army. As a father of three, David and his wife Nancy explain what his service in Iraq has meant to the family. Read more about their story in their new book "Home and Away" available to purchase online.

Jana Melpolder: What is the main message that you want the audience to take from your new book “Home and Away"?

David French: This not only takes the reader into the nitty gritty of what was happening in Iraq, but also the reality of what it’s like to be a family with a soldier serving overseas. What the challenges are: how to persevere through them and how to go through the experience with a lot of fear, faith and hope.

How do you feel about your deployment, David? How has this situation brought you closer together as a couple and as a family?

David: This is a unified decision for me to join and for me to volunteer to go to Iraq. You know we went through this together and it brought us closer, and one of the purposes was to demonstrate to our children that somethings are more important than yourself. And I think that the year in Iraq demonstrated that to them more clearly than any words ever could.

Continued on page 2: How does Nancy not worry all the time? »