Tag: military spouse

True Stories of Real Army Wives: My First Teaching Job

Army Wives, deployment, Real Army Wives, war letters
my very first teaching job. True Stories of Real Army Wives during deployment

Sun., Aug. 10, 2003 Alan, Hey Babe! Tomorrow is my first day of work. In case you haven’t yet gotten my previous letter, I got hired by Graham Elementary School downtown yesterday! Yay!! I’ll be making $32,000 this year. It’s a state charter school serving mostly low-income students, but it’s located in a church. Yeah, it’s different, but I’m excited about it. I’ll be teaching 3rd and 4th grade in one classroom, all subjects. It’s going to be tough. School starts […]

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Real Army Wives: Grim Reminders and My Guardian Angel

Army Wives, military life, war letters
Real Army Wives: Grim Reminders and My Guardian Angel

*******This post is part of the series True Stories of Real Army Wives. This blog series takes place in 2003, at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. All names of current military members and their spouses are changed.****** To read last week’s post, click here. Several things happened as that summer ended. Ashley, a friend of mine from church and one of the first people I’d met in Killeen, experienced a tragedy. Her husband’s XO was shot and killed. That was […]

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The Military Spouse of the Year Award

Army Wives, military life

Kids’ papers often get turned in a day or two late. Sometimes things go missing for days before we find them at the bottom of a stack. My dining room table looks like…. Well, it looks like this: My four-year-old loves to paint just as much as I love to blog. This whole rule of disorder has been bothering me and also making me feel like a failure, so I decided to give up blogging. “I’ll do it on the […]

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Kids’ Names, The Cop, & Living a Life that Matters

Army Wives, Real Army Wives
military finances for newlyweds on 2 continents-- Real Army Wives

*******This post is part of the series, The Real Army Wives. For last week’s chapter, click here.*************** Friday, July 8, 2003 Alan, Hey! I’m being bad. I’m in class, and we are watching a truly boring video. So I’ve been brainstorming children’s names for our future children. These are some that I have come up with. Tell me what you think, and try to think of some names to add to the list. 🙂 Girls: Gracie Elizabeth  (my favorite) Kathryn Jennings […]

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Decisions: Learning to Put People Before Logic

Army Wives, family, military life
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay downpour lives for our brothers.

****This post is part of the series The Real Army Wives, appearing every Monday on storiesofourboys.com. For the first half of the book, click here. For last week’s post, click here.***** When I was 22, it felt like there were decisions to make at every turn. Sometimes I chose unwisely. I tried to make the best, most logical plans. What I learned that summer was that sometimes people and emotions count for more than practicality. Did you watch the Star […]

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Military Finances: Newlyweds on 2 Separate Continents

Army Wives, deployment, funny stories, military life, Real Army Wives, war letters
military finances for newlyweds on 2 continents-- Real Army Wives

*******This post is part of the series, The Real Army Wives. For last week’s post click here.******* Guest Post from Cloe Real Army Wives: The Mystery Checks Today’s post is written by a good friend and fellow real Army wife of mine who is the inspiration for the character, Cloe. You can read more about her on this post. When I mentioned this to Alan, he said, “Oh yeah, Rob! That dude had to shave his face twice a day.” Oh, […]

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Letters to War June 24, 2003: The Teaching Test Troubles

Army Wives, Real Army Wives, war letters
Letters to War June 24, 2003: The Teaching Test Troubles

******This post is part of the Real Army Wives series which runs every Monday on storiesofourboys.com. The series follows our journey through the 1st year of the Iraq war, 2003-2004. ********** June 24, 2003 Dear Alan, ……Operation Iraq is getting more news time now. The big issue is the mounting amount of coalition troop deaths since the official end of the war. Just this week there were at least 6 British troops killed, and American lives are constantly lost.

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New Friends, The Beefcake, & My Nemesis the Lawnmower

Army Wives, attitude, military life, Real Army Wives
New Friends, The Beefcake, & My Nemesis the Lawnmower

One day in May, Alan called from Tikrit, Iraq, where he was serving with the 1/22 Infantry. When you only hear from your spouse every two weeks or so, and then only for short conversations, maybe 20 minutes at the longest, you cherish it. You cherish it so much you hang on their every word. Everything meant more. Everything. Alan called and gave me a general idea of who he was working with and not much about what they were […]

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Real Army Wives: Sarah, Short and Cute

Army Wives, deployment, military life, Real Army Wives

***This post is part of the series The Real Army Wives. For last week’s post about The Coffee Group, click here.*** Okay, you may or may not get my title reference there to the children’s book, Sarah Plain and Tall, which you should totally read to your children. It’s such a great book. I still vividly recall the day I met Sarah. (I even have some adorable photos of Sarah…..but I left town for Hurricane Irma and didn’t pack my photo […]

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The Coffee Group

Army Wives, military life, Real Army Wives
real army wives series, the coffee group, true stories from the war on terrorism

This post is part of the series, The Real Army Wives, which I’m writing to document the early years of The War on Terrorism. Click here to read last week’s post. Counselor, Friend, Same Difference While Alan’s parents were still glued to the news, Dr. Jones actually recommended to me that I stop watching it for the sake of my sanity. Once I quit watching it, I’ve never gone back. Ask me to this day what channel CNN or Fox […]

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