Tag: deployment

The Real Army Wives Series: Merry Christmas To Iraq, 2003

Army Wives, attitude, deployment, military life

***This post belongs to a series of posts detailing life as a 22-year-old military wife, back in the beginning of the War on Terrorism. To read it from the beginning, start here. To read the  chapter before this one, click here.*** Christmas arrived. I could ignore it in my sadness over not having Alan with me, or I could embrace it for the fact that it was still Christmas. Truthfully, it was not a sad time anymore. I had Elsie, Kayla, […]

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When They Touched Us

Army Wives, deployment, faith, military life, Real Army Wives
The Real Army Wives Series When They Touched Us

Friday, Oct. 17, 2003 Alan, Hey! I’m in Houston, Texas! I’m sharing a room with Elsie. We left Killeen around 3:30 this afternoon. It’s Cloe, Elsie, Kayla, and myself. We all rode down in Cloe’s little 2-door Civic! it was a tight squeeze, but we’re having a lot of fun. We got here at night, so we haven’t gone anywhere yet. And don’t worry, we aren’t planning on spending much money at all. Tomorrow we’re going on a tour of […]

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6 Ways to Save Your Marriage During Deployment

Army Wives, deployment, marriage, military life, war letters

****This post is part of the series Real Army Wives on storiesofourboys.com. This series chronicles the story of our first deployment, back in 2003.**** Once Alan had been gone for 6 months, and we were finally able to communicate regularly, we found that we began to bicker–even from continents away. We were having newlywed problems, whether we were together or not. Alan was anxious to move us forward towards our goals in the U.S., yet he was stuck in a […]

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The First 3 Casualties From Our First Deployment

Army Wives, deployment, military life, war letters

***This post is part of the Real Army Wives series, which appears each Monday morning on storiesofourboys.com. Click here for last week’s chapter. In this series, all names of service members and their wives are changed. However, names of the fallen soldiers are their correct names.*** Preparing for the Worst We all supposedly knew going into this that they wouldn’t all come home, but I never dwelt on that bit of information. Call it a defense mechanism, I don’t know. Being happy […]

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My First Colossal Failure & My Supportive Spouse Overseas

Army Wives, family, hard times, military life, Real Army Wives, war letters
My First Colossal Failure & My Supportive Spouse Overseas

***This post belongs to the series True Stories of Real Army Wives. ***** My last post was about how miserable I was as a teacher. Alan must have called me the morning after my first or second day of teaching from Iraq. What he wrote in response to my hardship is one of the most touching, empathetic, heartfelt letters I have ever read. No, he wasn’t physically there, and yet with this letter you can see how he was still obviously […]

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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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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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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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