beautiful quilt.
My Dh has been deployed twice.. both for a year at a time.
heres what i learned... try to stay calm.. the reality is it is far worse for the family when they are gone than it is for them. Unless his specialty is infantry, odds are most of the time he will be bored.
Make sure he has a good cell connection and internet plan, and youll be able to talk to him more often than you fear :D