Abe's Deployment

Even before Abe graduated last May from West Point, the United States Military Academy, we knew Abe was scheduled to deploy in March 2010. We felt like we had plenty of time to let it sink in and thought we would be prepared for when it finally came. It definitely was nice to have a lot of time to prepare for it, but as time got closer for him to leave, it actually got harder and harder for me. I was excited for Abe to go, but reality started hitting that my husband and best friend was going to be gone for the next year.

Abe and I were blessed to have his family there with us for a couple days before he left. It felt so good to have them there and they helped me pack up our stuff so we could move it back to Washington. It was nice to be with family after Abe left and to know that I would be with them for the next year.

Abe left of March 21, 2010. It was a hard and sad goodbye. I know this is not going to be an easy year having him gone. I just want Abe to know how proud of him I am. I am so thankful to have a husband who is brave, strong, humble, and just simply amazing. I am so honored to have a husband who is willing to serve our counrty, and who is willing to defend the constitution and our rights as Americans. I am so happy to see Abe fulfilling his dream that he's waited so long for. Please be safe and know that I love you so much!

When Abe graduated from BOLC 3, back in Kentucky, a couple of the military wives and I recieved a plaque with this poem on it:


I Am A Military Wife

Author Unknown

I am a military wife - a member of that sisterhood of women who have had the courage to watch their men go into battle, and the strength to survive until their return. Our sorority knows no rank, for we earn our membership with a marriage license, travelling over miles, or over nations to begin a new life with our military husbands. Within days, we turn a barren, echoing building into a home, and though our quarters are inevitably white-walled and unpapered, we decorate with the treasures of our travels, for we shop the markets of the globe.

Using hammer and nail, we tack our pictures to the wall, and our roots to the floor as firmly as if we had lived there for a lifetime. We hold a family together by the bootstraps, and raise the best of 'brats', instilling in them the motto: "Home is togetherness", whether motel, or guest house, apartment or duplex. As military wives we soon realize that the only good in "Good-bye" is the "Hello again". For as salesmen for freedom, our husbands are often on the road, at sea, or in the sky, leaving us behind for a week, a month, an assignment.

During separations we guard the home front, existing until the homecoming. Unlike our civilian counterparts, we measure time, not by years, but by tours - married at Petawawa, a baby born at Gagetown, a special anniversary at Uplands, a promotion in St Jean. We plant trees, and never see them grow tall, work on projects completed long after our departure, and enhance our community for the betterment of those who come after us.

We leave a part of ourselves at every stop. Through experience, we have learned to pack a suitcase, a car or hold baggage, and live indefinitely from the contents within: and though our fingers are sore from the patches we have sewn, and the silver we have shined, our hands are always ready to help those around us. Women of peace, we pray for a world in harmony, for the flag that leads our men into battle, will also blanket them in death.

Yet we are an optimistic group, thinking of the good, and forgetting the bad, cherishing yesterday, while anticipating tomorrow. Never rich by monetary standards, our hearts are overflowing with a wealth of experiences common only to those united by the special tradition of military life. We pass on this legacy to every military bride, welcoming her with outstretched arms, with love and friendship, from one sister to another, sharing in the bounty of our unique, fulfilling military way of life.