Our cover photo shows Sergeant Brian Keith with his 6-month-old son, Stephen, and wife, Sara, in Fort Drum, New York, shortly before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Sergeant Keith and other soldiers from the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division, were part of President Obama's "surge" of 30,000 additional troops for what many hope will be the final combat phase of the nine-year war. For some soldiers, it's their third or fourth tour of duty.

Figure. Our cover photo shows Sergeant Brian Keith with his 6-month-old son, Stephen, and wife, Sara, in Fort Drum, New York, shortly before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Photo by Damon Winter/New York Times.

"I know I'm going to miss him crawling," Sergeant Keith said of his son in a New York Times video about the battalion and the stress of leaving home (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html#/NYT/0). "I'm going to miss him walking. I'm going to miss his first birthday party."

In honor of Veteran's Day, AJN's November issue presents several articles with a focus on the military and their families. See "Caring for Families with Deployment Stress" to learn how nurses can help struggling families get the support they need, and read our new column, Letters from Afghanistan, written by army nurse Christopher A. Vanfosson, about his forward surgical team's experiences in providing care on the battlefield.-Alison Bulman, senior editorial coordinator