Posted by Meredith Spears on June 10, 2010 12:01 p.m.
On our wedding day, at the reception, my husband presented me with a small gift: A keepsake coin with a poem devoted to the wives of Army servicemen, proclaiming that indeed, wives have the hardest job in the Army. One tradition of many with these coins goes that when Army wives get together, the last one to plunk her coin down on the table, or whoever cannot produce a coin, is responsible for the summary purchase of beverages for all the wives present.
Undoubtedly, our servicemen have the most difficult jobs in the Army because they are the ones who risk their lives for the sake of protecting the nation. Additionally, they sacrifice their general comfort for the sake of their job (who likes to sleep in ditches or on a flimsy cot in a bay with a hundred other guys?), among other things. The average Army deployment overseas is approximately 12 months, not to mention the weekend drills, training schools, and various other missions that take these men away from their families for lengthy periods of time. Not easy, at all.
But there is an element of truth to the short, sweet poem on that coin. While our husbands go off to serve their duty, we as wives are left to handle the household affairs, be the wife and the husband, the mother and the father, and the morale for our children, no matter how sad, lonely, and worried our hearts may be. The love an Army wife has for her husband is strong, fierce, and true; while our husbands are off defending us, we in turn, in our way, defend them. We are the shoulder upon which our husbands may lay their weary heads. We are the cheerleaders who celebrate their triumphs, neutralize the sting of their defeats, and cheer them on when they feel they can’t go any further. We are the team players who know when to come off the bench, and when to call the plays.
Sometimes, too often, we have to deal with the loss of our husbands. In addition to dealing with this extreme heartache, we have to keep going – the rest of the world doesn’t stop. There are children to care for and console, family members that need help, and the regular household duties that still need to be tended to. All of this, plus the heart-wrenching loss of our spouse, must be carried on our shoulders and in our hearts.
While our troops have by far the hardest jobs in the military(no matter what our husbands and coins might say!), causing them to put themselves in danger, be away from their families for extended periods of time, and sometimes even sacrifice themselves for the greater good, wives of military personnel don’t have it so easy, either. One thing is for sure – we will never stop loving, supporting and standing by our troops. We thank you for all you do!