Military Wives

Watching the news on the war going on in Afghanistan might not have a huge impact on everyone; there are some people who turn the channel when the news is showing videos and pictures from the war, there are people who watch it just to know what’s going on, and then there are women who watch the news just to see if their husband will be in it because it will be the most they’ve seen of him in months. For Jenifer Voss from Montana, it had been 7 months since she’d seen her husband, John. When asked if she watched the news more or less when he left she said “I definitly watched the news more; not because i was worried something happened, but more to see what they were doing over there”. Even though John’s unit kept all the wives up-to-date on what was going on in Afghanistan, she admits that “the biggest reason I would watch the news, is so that maybe I would be able to just see him”; Which is the most she would be able to see of him for another four months after seeing him when he came back to Montana for a short ten days.

Amanda Brooks from Montana says she watched the news daily to see what was going on in Afghanistan where her husband, Joe was. “One Sunday; the day he would usually call me, he didn't call and I read on CNN that there was a missile attack at his base, talk about being scared!” Amanda and Joe have gone seven months without seeing each other when he was deployed to Afghanistan. “Another time he was stationed in Korea for a year without me but I went to see him for a month after 6 months. We like to joke kind of that we are apart more than together.” Imagine not being with your spouse for months at a time, you would need to find other things to keep yourself busy while they were gone. Amanda says that when she and Joe were deployed to Misawa, Japan it was “nice to be in a different country because I went and did a lot of sight seeing”. And when she was in Korea she joined a bowling league, two pool leagues and had three jobs. Military wives know how to stay busy while their husbands are gone.


What would be the hardest thing adjusting to when your husband comes home after seven months? “It is just kind of weird cause it is like you have to ask almost if they want to go or do what you want to do.” Amanda says “the fact that you have someone else to take care of, I didnt mind having a can of vegitables for dinner so little things like that.” For Jenifer Voss the hardest part was “adjusting to another person living in the house again, and sharing responsiblities. It was hard adjusting to him not being the same person as when he left. He changed a lot”. For the seven months John was gone, a lot had changed in the Voss’ household. Jen kept herself busy by visiting her sister almost every day, and helped her take care of her four kids kept her from worrying about John too much. She was pregnant most of the time that he was in Afghanistan, but baby Lucas was born only a couple weeks before his dad returned home in Montana. Watching the two run up to hug each other and seeing John hold his newborn baby son brought tears from everyone who was watching. People who didn’t even know them were clapping, and crying and taking pictures. Watching two people reunite after a long seven months of being apart was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen.



When you’re husband is gone for long periods of time, you’re going to need people surrounding you that share that in common, and know what you’re going through so you can support and help each other. That’s why there are support groups for wives of military men. “It’s amazing knowing you will always have someone there to talk to that knows exactly what your going through” Jen says the FRG (Family Readiness Group) has really helped her get though everything. “The FRG helps us keep in touch with our guys and lets us know whats going on over there- good and bad; and they really prepared us for the deployment and told us pretty much exactly what we should expect.” For Amanda, she says she is not part of a support group really, but she goes to a spouses club that meets once a month. “The Security Forces Squadron (cops) is kind of like a really dysfunctional family but if I ever needed anything while Joe was gone they would help you out. Things like needing your tire changed, putting up fences and such.” Amanda also talked about the FRG/FRC; “The Airman and Family Readiness Center also did a deployed family events bingo for the family, pajama parties for the kids and free movie at the movie theater.”

When we watch the news and see that the Afghanistan people bombed a U.S air force barracks and killed seven soldiers, we automatically get angry at the Afghanistan people and blame them, which is natural for us to do. But what most of us don’t know is that if it wasn’t for a U.S news reporter going into Afghanistan territory just to take pictures, he wouldn’t have gotten captured. Then the U.S soldiers have to go in to rescue him of course, and bring him back; which lead to the Afghanistan army bombing the U.S barracks. But typically only the wives of these military men know the real reason behind things, and when you know your husband is close to that unit, and you know that it’s the reporters fault, you’d be mad at the reporter too.