Up until I met Grey, my experience with the military was limited. I was once busted, along with a group of other rowdy college kids, for skinny dipping in Lake Erie by the Coast Guard, but that hardly counts as in-depth knowledge of the workings of our military. Little did I know that one day, I’d be a Navy wife and be privy to all the sacrifices the men and women of the Armed Services make for us.
Even just being an observer into the lives of Grey and his other friends that graduated from the Naval Academy has made me have an overflowing amount of respect for every single man and woman who signs him or herself away into the service. Grey completed two tours aboard Navy warships and spent seven months in the Persian Gulf at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but he’s had friends that have been on almost a dozen half-year deployments. There have been friends that have come back wounded, or maybe not at all.
Not to mention, every one of these people have been heroes because they’ve had the courage to put themselves in the line of fire for ME — and you, and everyone else in this country. These are people who have sacrificed time with their babies and wives and husbands to work toward a greater good. Whereas politicians get all the glory — spooning lobster bisque into their oily mouths, jet-setting off to exotic locales, and making oodles of cash — I truly believe it’s the military that has the hardest job in government. Does the President have to miss seeing him family on Thanksgiving? Or is a Senator required to live aboard a floating piece of steel for half a year? Uh, no.
So on this Veterans Day, not only am I so very grateful to all our servicemen and women worldwide, but I’m also so proud of my husband, my favorite veteran of all.
Grey and I before he left on Deployment in 2002 for SEVEN months. What a huge sacrifice these servicemen and women make for our country.
My best friend Julie (the girl who was beaten up by enormous litterbugs in Philly, my co-conspirator in the fake poo debacle, and fellow chef of “Hot Boy Christmas Cookie Delivery”), is finishing up her comedy tour in the Persian Gulf. For the past week she’s gone from base to base by Black Hawk helicopter to do stand-up for our servicemen and women. She’s performed almost five shows per day for injured veterans and amputees, Army soldiers, and guys waiting to hop a plane to Afghanistan. She said the troops are so grateful that her and the other comedians are there that it’s practically awkward.
As a former Navy gal herself (she and Grey were classmates at the Naval Academy), I think she knows how hellish deployments can get. I remember when Grey was deployed for seven months to the Gulf, his letters and emails sounded downright depressed. The military guys and girls are without friends and family for months on end, missing things like baby’s first steps, best friend’s wedding…ugh, makes me want to cry. When Julie was on deployment she wasn’t even allowed to come home for our other best friend Katie’s funeral. It was awful. The sacrifices people in the military make for all of us are heart wrenching.
But even now that Julie’s just about as far from an officer in the Navy as you can get — an LA-based musical comedian and actress — I love that she still makes time to give back — and what a more deserving crowd than our troops. A laugh can go a long way; I can’t imagine the positive impact she (and her jokes) have had on her audiences.
Julie on Saddam's throne in his palace. I'm sure he's rolling over in his grave.
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