Finding Comfort in "Army Wives"

I can still remember watching the preview for Army Wives five years ago. It caught my attention because at the time my husband and I were preparing for his second deployment. This was actually my first while married to him and I was completely clueless as to what to expect. So many emotions and thoughts were going through my head and I didn’t know what to think or who to talk to about it. Nothing could have prepared me at that point, I was in denial and I just wanted to wake up from that horrible dream.

Before my husband’s deployment in 2008, I spent a lot of time working within the military community and interacting with other families. Because we are National Guard, we lived approximately 45 minutes from post and were a bit disconnected from others. He was gone for one weekend a month and two weeks out of the year. And because he is a medic he would be away for 3 months at a time every few months rotating for training, but it was manageable. I had become used to him being gone, but safe. I never worried about him being in danger or not knowing what is going on. But things change when you learn that your husband will soon deploy to a combat zone. You panic and want to know everything there is to the Army and this life. I of course did my research online and ordered a ton of books. I was slowly learning more about this life and what was expected of me.

When Army Wives aired, I sat anxiously watching - getting mad at commercials for interrupting the show and wanting to see more at the end of those 60 minutes. I was in awe, I felt so connected to these women who in real life have no idea what it is like to be married to a soldier. But they captured the feelings and emotions so well, I cried. I cried because I was excited the military was finally getting some recognition in the civilian world, I cried because I knew my husband would be deploying soon and I cried because I was happy to have something to watch while he was away. As weird as that sounds, I felt connected to him and this life and it comforted me. Somehow no matter what was happening, I had this show to look forward to and help me feel more connected to this life. It was as if these women were my Army wife friends.

I sit here 5 years later; 2 deployments, 5 TDY’s, 3 National Guard emergencies and 6 Army Wives seasons. Thank you to the show’s creator, writers, actors and anyone who has made it possible. Thank you for supporting our military community and giving this Army wife something to always look forward to.

You can catch season 7 of Army Wivesevery Sunday at 9/10c on Lifetime.!

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