Family
In 1979 he married Rebecca Clare Wellings: they have two sons, one of whom, Harry, was seriously injured in July 2009 while serving as a captain with 4 Rifles in Afghanistan. Harry lost both legs after the patrol he was commanding ran over a roadside bomb. Parker later spoke about the aftermath of the incident, saying "it was pretty bad at that stage: they didn't know if Harry would survive or not. It helped being a soldier because all your training is about remaining as calm and calculating as you can in very difficult circumstances. But it was foul." Harry was injured shortly before Parker was due to take up the position of deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force, but Parker took up the post on schedule, later saying in an interview "Harry would be horrified if I didn't go. He'd think I was a wimp".
Read more about this topic: Nick Parker
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“The value of a family is that it cushions and protects while the individual is learning ways of coping. And a supportive social system provides the same kind of cushioning for the family as a whole.”
—Michael W. Yogman, and T. Berry Brazelton (20th century)
“Being so wrong about her makes me wonder now how often I am utterly wrong about myself. And how wrong she might have been about her mother, how wrong he might have been about his father, how much of family life is a vast web of misunderstandings, a tinted and touched-up family portrait, an accurate representation of fact that leaves out only the essential truth.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“Q: What would have made a family and career easier for you?
A: Being born a man.”
—Anonymous Mother, U.S. physician and mother of four. As quoted in Women and the Work Family Dilemma, by Deborah J. Swiss and Judith P. Walker, ch. 2 (1993)