ANGELTON, Texas – For many military families, headlines about U.S. strikes in Iran aren’t just international news, they’re personal.
As tensions escalate overseas, one local nonprofit says it’s already hearing from worried parents and spouses concerned about what could happen next.
At Military Moms and Wives of Brazoria County, volunteers are packing care packages for deployed service members, something they do twice a year. But this time, the mission carries added weight.
The organization’s founder, Mary Moreno, says the calls have increased since the latest military strikes.
“You know, I’m hearing from moms that are afraid. Afraid. How do I handle this?” Moreno said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t want a repeat of 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. We don’t want that.”
Moreno, who has experienced deployment as a military parent herself, says fear is natural but how families respond matters.
“I’ve in their shoes, my advice to them is just to be the ears and listen, keep it positive, because the last thing you wanna do is show the fear and tears to your loved one that is already in a mist of. You know fear already on the other side,” she said.
Memories of past wars
Hearing about the strikes brought back difficult memories for Moreno. She worries about the possibility of a prolonged conflict.
Still, she says service members understand the risks when they enlist.
“As a mother, I don’t want to say, ‘oh, we shouldn’t have gone there. We shouldn’t done this.’ No. When my son signed that dotted line to join the military, he knew what he was signing,” she said. “You go to war. And he knew that he might not come back. It’s reality.”
For Moreno, support starts with morale.
“The most important thing is to lift their morale, especially at this time,” Moreno said.
Retired Air Force veteran Doug Warren says those packages make a real difference overseas.
“Anytime you’re in a deployed location, and I’ve been on many, getting something from home, getting from a group like this. Is just straight money, man,” Warren said.
When asked about the latest strikes, Warren said he wasn’t shocked.
“I kind of saw it coming,” he said. “I saw the buildup.”
What happens next?
As families prepare locally, experts say the global impact could be significant.
Dr. Hanan Hammad, a history professor at the University of Houston, focuses on modern Arab and Middle East history. She says the situation is already broader than a single event.
She warns countries hosting U.S. military bases could face retaliation.
“It is already a wide regional conflict,” Hammad said. “The presence of these bases have been increasingly a reason of making these countries vulnerable to any Iranian retaliation.”
Beyond the region, she says the global economy could feel the effects.
“Not only oil but businesses, tourism, the chain of global trade, the impact of the straits in the region,” she said. “I really doubt that there is many people on the globe won’t feel its impact. The delay of supplies, the high prices, the impact on global markets, it is going to impact everybody.”
When asked directly whether the U.S. is at war, Hammad responded:
“It is war and also, it’s aggression. It’s a war of aggression.”
Politically inside Iran, she says the future is uncertain.
“We know that there is already a council. Of the Iranian president and other high-ranking figures in the Iranian state, very much taking care of day-to-day affairs in the state.”
She also cautioned against assuming outside force will automatically trigger change.
“It is really difficult to say, but we know that regime changes by bombing other people’s country doesn’t happen,” Hammad said. “There is possibility that Iranians can do some adjustment for the regime, or even regime change. That is very much to build real democracy and move forward.”
As geopolitical questions loom, Moreno says her focus remains steady, support service members and their families.
The group will continue collecting donations and assembling care packages in the coming weeks as potentially more troops deploy.