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Love & marriage, Army style

Aug-30-2004 » Filed Under: Homefront

This is a great column written by Karin - whose husband is an officer with the Stryker Brigade - and published by Army Times. Thanks for sharing.

[Link to Full Article]

My husband and I have a true Army story, starting when I met a skinny, stinky, soldier on break from Ranger school. He was caked in dirt but full of energy.

Little did I realize I was looking at my future husband, the man who would be the father of my children.

I had dropped out of college and was staying with friends in Georgia. These same friends were helping out a group of future Rangers, including Jim. While most guys took advantage of the hospitality and slept on the floor, Jim stayed awake and spent the time talking with me — except when he made a phone call to his fiancée.

His fiancée already had determined that she liked being engaged to a West Point cadet, but didn’t want to be an Army wife. Thankfully, she waited until after Ranger School to break up with him.

Jim and I kept in touch through the mail during this time. He eventually dated another gal, and even set me up with one of his Ranger School buddies. When his friend posted for duty in Germany, he stopped writing to me, but Jim never did.

In the summer of 1990, I was going to take a bus from Wisconsin to visit Georgia again, stopping on the way to see Jim at Fort Bragg, N.C. That never happened.

I’ll never forget when he called early that August to tell me the unit was going to the Persian Gulf War. He was excited, but also a bit scared. He told me that his ex-fiancée heard the news and called to say she’d be there for him when he came home. But he really wanted to keep in touch with me.

I received my first desert letter from him two weeks later. We wrote each other almost every day he was gone. The only time I’d actually spent with him was when he was on that Ranger School break, engaged to someone else, but I think the long-distance relationship we had was the healthiest I’d ever had with anyone. I was young, 19, and falling in love.

We did write a lot, sent tapes and faxes. I still have most of the correspondence in a box in the basement.

He finally called from the gulf on Jan. 6 my time, Jan. 7 his time, and asked me to marry him.

That was a collect call to my friends’ house that cost more than $400. I waitressed a lot of tables at Country’s Bar-B-Q off exit 4, Columbus, Ga., to pay for that bill.

You can read the rest of their story here.


Comments For "Love & marriage, Army style":

Great story. HOOAH!!! to the wife and children for being there when dad's away. God bless them all for their service to our great country. Military family's around the world support our soldiers every day. God bless.

Posted by: Mike Oreo | August 30, 2004 4:35 PM

What a beautiful love story and all the young
wives should read this. Thank you for sharing it
with all of us. Please say thanks to your husband
for being there for all of us and God bless.

Posted by: Florence | August 30, 2004 6:53 PM

What a beautiful story! I found myself crying; I am 20 and have my boyfriend of 4 years deployed with the SBCT. Some people can't do the long distance thing, but I wouldn't change it for the world. James is the best thing that has happened to me. You're living proof that true love can make it through anything. Thank you for such an amazing story!!!

Posted by: Emily Chambers | September 2, 2004 7:46 PM

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