(NewsNation Now) — Many people have questions about what’s happening in Europe since Russia started attacking Ukraine early Thursday morning.

But one boy whose father, a Fort Bragg paratrooper, was deployed overseas just wants to know: when’s dad coming home?

“He will say, ‘When will he be back then? Because he’s usually back by the time I’m asleep,'” Yadira Rodriguez, the boy’s mother, and wife of the Fort Bragg soldier, said. “And I just have to be straight up honest with him and say we don’t have a set date, but as soon as I figure out I’ll let you know.”

This is the reality for a lot of families at Fort Bragg, a military installation in North Carolina, after the U.S. committed thousands of troops to bases in Poland, Germany and Romania to bolster NATO countries in Eastern Europe amid the Ukraine crisis.

Many of those troops were deployed from Fort Bragg. Nearly 10 percent of the post is gone now.

Families didn’t get much time to prepare for their loved ones’ departure.

Rodriguez said her husband had less than 24 hours’ notice before he had to ship out.

It’s been hard, she said, not having him around to help with the children, especially as much of her family is in Southern Texas. And as the situation in Ukraine gets worse, she’s trying to avoid the news.

As NewsNation local affiliate WNCN-TV reported, Rodriguez is staying strong for her children.

“We watch movies. We bake cookies. It’s just a lot of trying to stay active so we don’t have time to think about the deployment,” Rodriguez said.