Army Spouse Writes About Deployment Struggles

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Army Spouse Writes About Deployment Struggles
Army News Service | February 01, 2008

WASHINGTON - When Soldiers march off to war, so do their spouses, writes one Army wife in her new book. They fight to stay connected with their Soldiers across miles and distance, and to survive on their own.

In "365 Deployment Days: A Wife's Survival Story," Sara Dawalt chronicles the loneliness, anger and worry that nearly destroyed her marriage while her husband Brandon, a captain, was deployed with Fort Hood's 1st Cavalry Division in 2004, and her eventual triumph over it all.

Dawalt wrote the book to help people and it's a useful handbook for spouses and Soldiers on the emotions to expect, what to do and what not to do. Civilians should read it too, she said, so they understand what military Families go through.

"The husbands need to read this book, or the wives, whoever is the Soldier, so they understand what their spouse is going through, because Brandon had no idea. I think a lot of times the guys get over there and it's easy for them to compartmentalize their lives and if they don't call or they don't email, it's easier for them to focus on what they're doing and forget that they're where they are. It's going to take husbands and wives communicating and really really talking to figure out what they can do for each other to make it through it," she said in an interview.

She knew her husband would eventually deploy after Sept. 11, 2001, and after he received his orders to deploy in March 2004, she began to withdraw and argue with him about little things.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,161165,00.html