Stacey Archambault was 6 years old the last time her father was in the Middle East, in 1991. He sent desert sand back to her grade school class. She thought it was neat.

Archambault didn’t realize her father was fighting in the first Gulf War.

“I think then I was too young to understand the gravity of the situation,” the Kansas University sophomore said Thursday.

She understands now.

Her father, Bruce Archambault Jr., has returned to the Middle East for the second Gulf War — this time as an Army intelligence major based in Kuwait.

“Now it’s a little harder,” Stacey said, “because I understand what’s going on.”

Technology makes the distance easier. Bruce Archambault sends e-mail to his daughter nearly every day — he’s attached photos of his temporary desert home — and calls every couple of weeks.

“I know he definitely wants to come home,” Stacey said. “He was in the first Gulf War. He doesn’t usually talk to me about the war stuff, but he talks to me about his personal experiences. He’s pretty busy and he’s usually tired when I talk to him on the phone.”

While her father is supporting the invasion, her younger brother is preparing to join his side.

Kansas University student Stacey Archambault's father, Army Maj. Bruce Archambault Jr., is shown at his base in Kuwait.

Bruce Archambault III, a Leavenworth High School senior, is scheduled to enter Army basic training June 3, his 18th birthday. He already has begun drilling with a reserve unit based in Gardner.

“I’m actually shining my boots right now for the drill this weekend,” Bruce said by phone Thursday. “I’d get over there in the snap of my fingers and be right next to him if I could.”

But the son also feels some fear for the father.

“At times,” Bruce said. “When he first got over there, he’d send back e-mails about how they got attacked by Scuds multiple times a day and they’d have to run for the bunkers. That’s the reality of what they have to do, and there’s no escaping it.”

There is also humor, however. Bruce said his father described how one man ran naked to the bunkers when air raid sirens interrupted a shower.

“He said if there’s one thing he remembers about the Scud attacks, it’ll be the ‘joker running naked across the street,'” Bruce said.

Back home, Stacey Archambault said it had been tough for her to deal with antiwar protesters.

“It’s definitely hard for me, but I’m getting used to it,” she said. “Sometimes I feel like the protesters don’t fully appreciate what people like my dad are doing for them, over there risking their lives.”

Unlike her brother, Stacey won’t be joining the fight.

“This time, I wish I could be out there helping out,” she said. “But when I tell my dad that, he doesn’t like that. He tells me to stay over here.”