Nancy: She came home and she said, "Well, I'm going to the recruiter, I'm going to join the Army." And I went, "Wow."

Brad: Personally, I didn't really want her to go. I was a little nervous about it. I said to her, "You know, if you do this, you more than likely will be overseas at one point in time." And she told me, "I understand that, and I'm ready to do that." Her exact words were, "I want to serve my country."

Brad: I had a knot in my chest, 'cause I knew that eventually deployment would come about.

Brad: She ain't no little girl no more, but she's my little girl, and she was going off to war, simple as that. Every day I would go to work and the very first thing I would do would be to head right for the computer and fire it up and [think] "Please be there, Shannon. Please be there." I think I must have said it every e-mail, every phone call. I was so proud of her; it was hard to get the words out without crying.

Brad: We're amazed. Her brother thinks the world of her. She's just his superhero. I was that way too. I think I sent her an e-mail once and said, "Superman himself could land next to me and I'd say, 'Excuse me, sir. You're blocking the view of my daughter.'"