“(Early in our careers), we didn’t really know anybody at our next duty stations. We had 30 days to find someone we’d trust enough to take care of our kids, who was willing to do it,” said Master Sgt. Choates.
“Now that we’re older and we’ve been in a while, we know people at most of our duty stations when we get there.”
Master Sgt. Choates added that those who haven’t been in the Army long enough to know someone at every duty station should look amongst their coworkers for short-term care providers, because the people a Soldier works with on a daily basis are the ones they get to know first.
“Family (readiness groups) (FRG) are another good source of information,” said Sgt. 1st Class Choates. “But you have to go to the FRG meetings. They won’t come to you.”
Many Soldiers married to other Soldiers agree that being a member of a dual-military couple involves a lot of sacrifice. Some, however, find the sacrifice to be too much. Being a Soldier is something Staff Sgt. Alison Kempke enjoys. A technical engineer assigned to Company A, 94th Engineer Battalion, Hohenfels, Germany, she is currently deployed in Iraq. And though she’s a dedicated Soldier in the War on Terrorism, her husband and two children waiting for her in Germany are never far from her thoughts. Kempke said she finds her job both rewarding and challenging, but she’ll be ending her military career after only eight years.
“I love the military and I’d love to stay in, but the separations are hard, especially this one because you don’t know when you’re coming back,” she said. “I’d also like to be around to raise my kids.”
Her current deployment is one of many separations she and her husband, Kenneth, a Cavalry scout assigned to the Combat Maneuver Training Center, Hohenfels, Germany, have been forced to endure. Still other dual-military couples said while there are difficulties, there are also a number of benefits.
“When things happen that are beyond my control, (my husband) understands because he knows how things are in the military,” said Sgt. 1st Class Regina Jamerson, a medic assigned to Headquarters Support Company, 94th Engineer Battalion, currently deployed in Iraq.
She’s been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since May. This is the first time in her eight-year marriage that she’s been separated from her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Jamerson, a medic assigned to 7th Army Training Command, Grafenwoehr, Germany.
“We can relate to each other because we understand how things happen in the Army,” she said. “Also, my husband can pack my duffle bag when I have (a field training exercise). How many civilian spouses can do that?”
