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JACKSONVILLE – The 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks also means our country has been at war for nearly just as long. Military families have endured nearly of a decade of deployments in the war on terror.

Ashely Otero's family has been through three deployments. She says when her husband is deployed her daughter, Annabelle, misses him greatly.

"She'll say every single day, 'daddy's coming home today,' and I have to explain to her 'no not today. Daddy's working hard for our family,'" she said.

While deployed, families are often apart for major milestones.

Since 9/11, more than 2 million service members have deployed in support of the global war on terror, and many have gone on multiple tours of duty. There's a lot of support available from family readiness officers within the military or groups like the USO of North Carolina.

Things like story time help bring families together.

"With all the repetitive deployments, they're away from their family members so much that we try and keep that connectivity together," said Deb Fisher, director of the USO of North Carolina Jacksonville Center.

Otero says its staying connected to others that helps to keep her going during a deployment.

"Friends, definitely, other military spouses, things like the USO just filling our time, filling the days and just making the time pass," she said.

The USO of North Carolina has other programs to bring military families together during deployments including Smiles over Miles, which allows families to send video messages to their loved ones overseas.