This beautiful girl in the photo is my Goddaughter. Last month Mackenna Reilly turned 5 years old. She helped her dad make a shirt that says "Vote for Uncle Nicky" and wore it to the annual 4th of July Party my parents throw. In this shot, her and I are watching the fireworks over the lake at East Lake Park.

I was given the honor of being named her Godfather by my oldest friend Ed Reilly, a Chester Firefighter. Mackenna was born on February 23, 2004 three days before I returned home from Kosovo. She was baptized shortly after by Father Canavan at Saint Rose of Lima in Eddystone.

Many of the guys miss their families after over a month away from home, and certainly I am no different. Being away from family and friends is one of the toughest things about military life. As any service member will tell you having the home front squared away does a lot for ones piece of mind. For my mother and father, this is the third time they have sent me off to a foreign country for an extended period of time. My father himself is a Korean War Veteran and my mother had most of her brothers serve the Republic in the armed forces. They have been exceptionally understanding through all of this and couldn't be more supportive.