COOS BAY — It’s been a grueling nine months.

Bryan McNeely’s parents, George and Joanna McNeely of Coos Bay, found out their daughter-in-law was stuck in Germany a few days after she was sent there.

They said the situation has frustrated and complicated their son’s life in the nine months since.

“He tells us very little about his life now,” Joanna McNeely said. “It’s always about Eva and the baby.”

Joanna McNeely is the classified advertising supervisor for The World. The family moved to the Bay Area when Bryan was a freshman in high school. He played football and trumpet. He graduated from Marshfield High School in 1999 and enlisted in the Army.

The McNeelys have not seen their son in four years and have never met their granddaughter, Yasmine, 4.

“We’ve seen her on the computer and talked to her on the phone,” Joanna McNeely said.

“She’s beautiful,” she added, saying it in a way only a grandmother could.

She said she is frustrated by not being able to see and comfort her son through this time. They talk on the phone frequently, but it just isn’t the same.

They say their son is following the official channels, but nobody seems interested in helping him. George McNeely said he still isn’t sure they know the full story, but the punishment doesn’t fit their daughter-in-law’s crime.

“Eva made a mistake,” he said. “I don’t think this is the answer — breaking up their family.”

Joanna McNeely said it is wrong that her son put his life on the line for his country when it showed no inclination to help him.

“Our country is not allowing him to take care of his family,” she said.

— Jolene Guzman, staff writer