Ebony Collins said her son Jaden Collins is a logistics specialist in the Navy and has been stationed at a base in Bahrain since January 2025.
Jaden graduated from Leesville High School, and his mom said he immediately enlisted in the Navy.
Collins said her concerns about his safety only grew once the first drones took to the sky this weekend. She finds herself thinking, 'Where is my child? Where is my son?' as he is in the middle of a war zone.
"I had to turn off the news, turn off social media with watching anything pertaining to what's going over there," said Collins.
She said a few things keep her strong.
"Prayer, staying strong in my faith, and I have some great people who surround me with prayer," said Collins.
As the conflict war continues, Collins said she's vulnerable to little breakdowns.
"I walked into Sam's Club yesterday just to get one thing," she said. "When I get to the register, I just fell apart. I couldn't hold it in, and I just like, thought of my son."
After Collins posted on social media, asking for prayers for her son, she said she has gotten support from dozens of known and unknown prayer warriors.
"People I don't even know that reach out to me, inbox me, and just leave me messages, kind words, prayers," she said. "People wrote notes, and they take a picture of it, send it to my inbox with a prayer on it."
The Navy mom also shared a message of support for her son, who's a world away.
"I'm praying for you every day. Every day. And your brother misses you and your grandparents. All of us miss you, Jaden. And we love you more than anything," she said.
The good news is she just heard from her son earlier on Wednesday. She told ABC11 that he said he's safe right now, but she still worries as the war unfolds.