Family Matters: Spouses, Sweethearts, Soldiers

For Soldiers one of the most difficult aspects of being so far away from home is missing loved ones.  For a handful of Task Force 34 Soldiers, a precious piece of home has tagged along.  Here is a look at two couples experiencing marital bliss at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

The Deerings

With no prior relationship, the couple became acquainted due to their same last name.  When the 834 Aviation Support Battalion (ASB) was put on warning orders, Richard reenlisted to join the battalion to deploy with Jennifer.

“The best part of being here together is just being able to be around each other,” said SGT Richard Deering, A Co., 834 ASB Unit Supply Specialist.  “We get to come home from work and talk about our day, just like at home.  When we go to our room, that’s our space and our time.” 
 
The couple realizes keeping their military bearing is essential to the mission.

“We don’t get to hold hands in public or anything like that but that’s not a big deal,” said SGT Jennifer Deering, 834th ASB Distribution Sergeant.  “We know when our ‘us’ time is.  We don’t have to separate it at all, we are Soldiers and we are married.  It is just a matter of being a professional.” 

Outside of the mission, this deployment has been beneficial to their relationship as well.

“We’ve been through a lot together as a couple and this deployment has brought us even closer in our relationship.  This has also helped us to respect each other more because of the level of care that we show each other,” Jennifer said.  “Being in Iraq and living happily in an 11x11 foot room for nine months has made us realize that there isn’t anything we can’t accomplish together.”

The Brewers

When Carrie’s name came up for the deployment, James volunteered to come.  The couple was married in Mexico about a month before mobilizing to Fort Sill, Okla. in June.

“Even though my wife is a trained American Soldier, she does have the tendency (by tendency I really mean life-consuming urge) to worry,” said CPL James Brewer, TF 34 Headquarters.  “And it would have eaten me alive to be at home and not able to help her.”

For St. Paul, MN natives James and Carrie Brewer, this deployment has brought them closer together.  This is not only due to the small living quarters.

“This has forced us into learning how to deal with each other when we are crabby or stressed or whatever else,” said PFC Carrie Brewer, Headquarters Support Company, 834th Aviation Support Battalion.  “At home, you can always get away when you need to.  Here we share the same room and about a one-mile stretch of desert.  You just learn to get along, even if you don’t always feel like it.”

Unlike couples living in different time zones, the Brewers are able to share in day-to-day life.

“The best part of having my wife in country is that we are sharing this experience.  When I get home I am able to share frustrations, boredom, and emotions that commonly accompany deployments,” James said.  “I am grateful that all the little experiences that are unique to Iraq and deployment are discussed and laughed about, or appreciated and not lost through thousands of miles of separation.”

“I try to remind her that it’s normal for newlyweds to struggle, and this is our struggle.  Later when we have children we will have the ‘remember when’ stories,” James said.  “Like, ‘[Kids], we had to ride a camel nine miles to work every day uphill in a dust storm with mortars and rockets going off.’”

By Spc. Jodi Krause
834th ASB Unit Public Affairs Representative
8 Feb., 2009