COLORADO SPRINGS — A defense official tells NBC News that right now 2,000 US troops are on standby for deployment to the Middle East.
As uncertainty looms, two Colorado Springs veterans detail the impacts of their own deployment experiences and the emotions that affected them and their families.
Tom Gillispie, who served four years at Fort Carson, said as troops prepare for a possible deployment, he remembers the feelings of stress and anticipation before both of his deployments to Iraq.
"You're going to a new place. You don't know what to expect. You don't know what you're gonna encounter. So you got all types of emotions going through but you also want to spend as much time as you can with family and do as much as you can before you go," he said.
Gillispie said he decided to join the service after 9/11. He said he has concerns about national security as the war continues between Israel and Hamas.
"You can't catch everything, you know, and we haven't in the past. That could be a reality but hopefully, it's not, hopefully, our security is good. That uncertainty will always keep people wondering," he said.
According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 85% of Americans said they are concerned about the war escalating into a wider war in the Middle East.
Roberto Rangel spent 15 years in the service with multiple deployments to Iraq. He said he is confident in the training troops receive and said that they are prepared for anything if sent overseas.
"That's where I feel hopeful because with all of my deployments, with everything I've been through, it was my training that got me through all of it," he said. "We're trained to handle anything that happens and, you know, with the size of our force it's... it's manageable."
He said the military provides families with multiple checklists and plans before sending service members off. However, Gillispie said no one can quite prepare for the emotional toll it takes on a family while a loved one is away from home.
"It's hard on the unit and families for sure. It was hard on my mom. My mom probably stressed the most, she, you know, had the flags up in the windows and, you know, she was real proud, but also real nervous," he said.
In an address on Thursday night, President Biden pushed Congress to approve more aid for Israel and Ukraine as well as aid for Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border.
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