With their wives — not them — reporting for duty, military husbands work to find their place

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Glenn Pilarowski plays with his two sons, 3-year-old Gavin, right, and 1-year-old Gage last fall. Glenn Pilarowski is a civilian military spouse in a culture that still largely regards “spouse” and “wife” as synonymous.


With their wives — not them — reporting for duty, military husbands work to find their place
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Pilarowski family’s soldier deployed to Iraq eight months ago. As Glenn Pilarowski and his two young sons said goodbye to mom, Glenn found it hard to take care of everything on his own.

"The second, third and fourth months were the hardest," said Pilarowski, 30, a substitute teacher and coach at Baumholder High School in Germany. "I wasn’t sure if I was being a good dad, a good husband. I was just doing everything to keep my head afloat."

Now, more than halfway into 1st Sgt. Devon Pilarowski’s deployment, 3-year-old son Gavin calls one of his meals "daddy’s chicken" and dad handles baby Gage’s needs with ease. For the former arena football player, Thanksgiving was the game-changer.

"I was able to make them the meal and they got to talk to mom," he said. "And I thought, wait a second, I can do this."

At bases around the world there are men like Glenn Pilarowski.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61324