(CNN) -- For several weeks, Frances Johnson had been telling her 2-year-old son Noah the following: "Mommy and Daddy are going to go to work for a while ... but we always come back for you. "We always come back for you." Noah is too young to understand that his mommy and daddy's "work" involves deploying to Afghanistan just around the new year, and that "a while" could be between six and 12 months. But there are signs he seems to grasp how his life is about to dramatically change, Johnson said. When she said goodbye to him at the airport, which would be the last time she'd see him in person for months, he wanted to come along and said, "Me mama work?"
@highlight
Frances Johnson and her husband will be deployed to Afghanistan at the same time
@highlight
The Johnsons join the roughly 681 Marine Corps couples who have deployed at the same time since 2011
@highlight
"I've heard that I'm a bad mom," said Johnson, referring to some criticism she has received
@highlight
What will get her through her 6- to 12-month deployment? Thoughts of her reunion, she said
Her husband's enlistment was about to end after 10 years, so he would remain home with @placeholder while she deployed.