Patty Loew:
We begin this week with the war in Afghanistan. As debate continues on whether there should be a troop surge. Here in Wisconsin families are counting the days until their loved ones return, including members of the national guard's 951st engineer company out of Rhinelander. That unit is on the front lines clearing explosives, a mission that has not gone unnoticed. In fact, this Wisconsin soldier landed on the cover of "Time" magazine this month after being injured in a blast. "In Wisconsin" reporter Frederica Freyberg talks to the wife of Sergeant First Class Chet Millard in Sparta.

Frederica Freyberg:
Plenty of copies of the magazine cover photo are scattered around Chet Millard’s home in rural Sparta, reminders of his dangerous duty half a world away. For his wife, Dawn, the photo brings the risk he faces into sharp focus.

Dawn Millard:
I was pretty upset to see him like that. He's such a strong person and he just looked so vulnerable. And, you know, that's not my husband.

Frederica Freyberg:
A Wisconsin prison guard back home, in Afghanistan Sergeant First Class Chet Millard commands a platoon of soldiers from the 951st engineer company out of Rhinelander. Their mission, finding and disarming bombs along one of Afghanistan's most deadly highways. Millard has said he always expects to get hit. When he doesn't, it's a good day. It was not a good day in early September when his armored vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device. Millard and others with him were injured and medevaced out. The Time photo shows him on a stretcher waiting for rescue.

Dawn Millard:
He said the doctor told him we wouldn't know the full extent of the brain injury for six months.

Frederica Freyberg:
Sergeant Millard suffered what is described as a mild traumatic brain injury from the blast. He's back with his platoon but not yet running route clearing missions. While all of that is happening on the war front, at home the Millards have four children, all witness to his publicly showcased injury.

Ashley Millard:
It was scary but you just have to try and stay happy for the little ones and her so they're not all upset.

Dawn Millard:
Gunner said to me when I told him his dad was hurt. He says, Mom, I knew he was going to get hurt because that Afghanistan is a bad place. It's a dangerous place.

Frederica Freyberg:
Despite the raw honesty, Dawn Millard says that in particular their youngest, 7-year-old Gunner and 6-year-old Lexi don't grasp the worst that could happen. In a show of sympathy and support of the worst that can happen, Rhinelander this month mourned the death of a young soldier of the 951st, patriots in the wind and cold remembering Sergeant Ryan Adams killed in the dust and heat by enemy fire. It happened just weeks after Sergeant Millard was injured. Dawn Millard attended the funeral.

Dawn Millard:
To walk in there and sit there and look at that casket and realize how close you've come, it's scary. You're so grateful that it's not you. But, I mean, you can't help but feel guilty that you feel that way.

Dan Buttery:
It's the reality of what can happen and what is happening on a daily basis across the country.

Frederica Freyberg:
Dan buttery knows both these men of the 951st. He was their commander in another unit of the Wisconsin national guard during an earlier tour in Iraq. For him, injury and death in this Afghanistan unit hits as close to home as if it were family.

Dan Buttery:
It's devastating. When you are a company commander or any kind of leader, you almost take on a paternal role.            

Frederica Freyberg:
Buttery himself was injured in Iraq and finished his tour but is now retired from the national guard.

Dan Buttery:
My new mission is every chance I get to support the families, to support the service members.

Frederica Freyberg:
He now volunteers with the American legion and those returning home may prove a new battle for soldiers performing such perilous duty.

Dan Buttery:
For some it would take months. Some years. Some may never get over it because of what they have experienced.

Frederica Freyberg:
Through all that Chet Millard is experiencing, at home in Sparta the family routine continues on without him. Though it's an uneasy routine with nervous and sleepless nights for Dawn Millard.

Dawn Millard:
It's wanting him back home, worrying about him. That's the hard part. Just knowing that he is safe makes everything easier.

Frederica Freyberg:
The family checks off the days on a countdown to Daddy calendar and the weeks have finally turned to days with the 951st expected home some time around thanksgiving.

Dawn Millard:
You just want it over.

Frederica Freyberg:
Over so that the good days are marked not just by not being hit by enemy fire or an IED.

Patty Loew:
The soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are a new generation of vets with new and different needs from veterans of past wars. The Wisconsin American Legion, the state's largest veterans service organization, is designing a virtual legion post so that returning vets like those in the 951st can surf the web for services, support and community.