The True Military Family Story Behind the Novel THE WOMEN OF CAMP SOBINGO

Marilyn Celeste Morris is the author of the novel THE WOMEN OF CAMP SOBINGO. Here is Marilyn to tell you first about the true story and then how she came to write a novel about this time in her life. You can read more about Marilyn at her website, and below is her dedication of this guest post to her mother:

Dedication: To my mother, Frances Garrett Morris, who at the age of 25, packed up her two children, took a train across the country to board a military transport ship bound for, literally, the far ends of the earth in order to join her husband in a foreign country that had few modern conveniences. Yet she made a home for her family. And when I asked her years later, “Mom, how did you manage to do all that?” she merely replied, “It was expected of me.”

There really was a Camp Sobingo located outside the capitol city of Seoul, South Korea, at the end of WWII. This military compound’s cookie-cutter “quarters” were home to the women and children who joined their army officer husbands during the U.S. Occupation.

The camp had a school, a post exchange, a dispensary, a commissary, and even a movie theatre (think MASH). Ever-present, however, was the military presence, both Korean and our own U.S. forces as well as the tyranny of the Russians located across the 38th parallel, who merely annoyed the dependents with the random denial of electricity to the American contingent.

Most of the Americans had deployed to other assignments before June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea. Those remaining escaped safely, but “The Land of the Morning Calm” would never be the same.

In 1954, my father was ordered back to Korea as part of the Military Advisory Group. He took a short drive to what remained of Camp Sobingo and sent snapshots of our former quarters (Hq.G-27), which had been pockmarked by aerial strafing, and natives were stripping the floorboards for fuel.

The window, where I had sat and dreamed a nine-year-old’s dreams and played with my homemade dollhouse populated by models cut from the Sears, Roebuck catalog was boarded up. More pockmarks surrounded the framework.

An unusual childhood, one might correctly assume, yet I was not alone in this kind of adventure. There are vast numbers of military brats and wives of servicemen who carry the same experiences from different countries. Thanks to the power of the internet, we are finding each other.

Two such sites that assist in this process are: www.military-brats.com where you may register so that others may find you, and www. Overseas-Brats.com.

Another organization of interest is the American Overseas Schools Historical Society, which recently broke ground for a museum to be built in Wichita, Kansas, housing such “sacred artifacts” as my 4th grade report card from Seoul Dependents Elementary School. (Many of the schools currently in operation overseas are being closed as our military presence is no longer required.)

Researchers and historians will be astounded by such a treasure trove detailing one small but important part of our nation’s history.

And now about the novel THE WOMEN OF CAMP SOBINGO

A number of people have asked me what was behind this book – the “real” story. I have no ready answer. I was only an 8- or 9-year-old kid in 1946 in that military compound so far away from the country of my birth.

It was while I was writing ONCE A BRAT about my experiences as an army brat accompanying my army officer father all over the world in the days following the end of WWII that the image of my mother telling me that one of the women in the compound had died sprang into my mind. And not only had she died, she chose to end her life there.

I often wondered why a woman would destroy herself. What kind of dark forces in her childhood would convince a person that death was the only way out of the terrible pain?

So, being the incurable writer (storyteller) that I am, I made it all up.

The four women in the story are composites of women I have known throughout the years. Some stories are true, others appear quite by accident as I sat at my keyboard and allowed the characters free reign to do as they pleased. And often the results were a complete surprise to me.

I began wondering why the beautiful Leah Damon would want to kill herself, and imagined a troubled childhood, a feeling of being “different” from the others in school. (No doubt a mirror image to my own childhood where I was always the new kid in class, and do girls here wear Peter Pan collars or sweaters?)

My mother is portrayed most nearly true to form. She is the West Texas farm girl who marries a soldier and becomes an army wife, following him to the literal ends of the earth.

Maggie is probably my alter-ego, if I would let it out to play. She is a brassy, bossy, fun-loving woman who takes all the challenges life throws at her and almost literally spits in fortune’s eye.

And Trudy. Ah, yes, Trudy is the shy girl who marries into wealth and power, and yet she follows her husband to make a home for themselves in a distant country where she can be herself instead of one of the Cavanaugh women of fame and fortune. Years later, she finds her own hidden strength as well as a weakness that led her to believe events that were not true.
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

Army Wives: Dealing With Household Baggage

I'm in Chicago today visiting my parents for their 84th birthdays. As we are about to drive to O'Hare Airport, I suddenly thought of the day in September 1970 when my husband called from the Baltimore Airport. He was en route to Ft. Dix, New Jersey, to fly to Europe for an unknown destination. I didn't have concurrent travel orders.

He called and said he'd just been paged. An official army personnel informed him that my concurrent travel orders had come through and his travel orders were being put on hold. I had 72 hours to join him at Ft. Dix.

And, oh yes, we were going to Munich, Germany. I had no idea where that was, and took some time to locate it on a map.

The next day my mother and I drove to Ft. Sheridan in Chicago to arrange for our household goods still at my parents' house to be shipped to Munich. And it's being in close proximity to the former Ft. Sheridan (now a housing development) that brought this memory to mind.

If you want to read more stories of military wives dealing with household baggage and other military household matters, check out the website of author Marna A. Krajeski at www.householdbaggage.com.

Warriors in Transition: America’s Heroes at Work

This morning I was interviewed on the blogtalkradio show Southwest-Blend’s Champagne Sundays (http://snipurl.com/oct19blogtalkradio. Because the Facebook group page MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL is sponsoring the event Honor a Veteran (http://snipurl.com/mrslieutenant), we talked about supporting our military troops regardless of our political affiliation.

And then this evening I watched the October 5th episode of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES. (Yes, I’m a little behind.) In this episode there was a mention of warriors in transition – military personnel who because of injuries have to transition to civilian life.

I did a Google search for the term "warriors in transition" and discovered that there is now the site America’s Heroes at Work (www.americasheroesatwork.gov/):

Supporting the Employment Success of Returning
Service Members with TBI & PTSD

Welcome to America's Heroes at Work -- a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) project that focuses on the employment challenges of returning service members living with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Designed for employers and the workforce development system, this Web site is your link to information and tools to help returning service members affected by TBI and/or PTSD succeed in the workplace -- particularly service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

And I wanted to bring this site to people’s attention because the site provides help for employers who want to recruit, hire and retain veteran employees.

If you’re an employer, I hope you’ll check out this website. And regardless of whether you’re an employer, I hope you’ll support our troops.

You can check out my website at www.mrslieutenant.com for organizations that support military personnel and their families, or check out www.emailourmilitary.com, especially now during its holiday program.

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My Saddest and Most Significant Moments as a Military Spouse

The “Tell-Your-Own-Story” military spouse contest sponsored by www.YourMilitary.com in connection with Lifetime TV’s Season 2 of ARMY WIVES has announced the contest winners. Their names and the winning essays can be read at www.YourMilitaryBlog.com.

Here’s a winning essay by Kathleen P., one of five grand prize winners, followed by a second essay she wrote. Both essays are reprinted with permission from YourMilitary.com:

My Saddest Moment as a Military Spouse

I was sad the day my husband Will left for Iraq. But my saddest day came days later when it finally sunk in that he was in the sand and I was here stateside. I was alone with our four children to raise.

Four tiny lives depended on me to be Mommy and Daddy, and I was crying uncontrollably in the cookie section of the grocery store because out of force of habit I was picking up his cookies and there would be nobody at home to eat them. In that moment I felt the most alone I have ever felt. No hearing his voice on the phone because they had to travel in country to their destination.

I came home to my 18-month-old demanding his DaDa.

That night after everyone was tucked in bed I began to be overcome once again by emotion. Then a tiny figure stood by my bedside offering his teddy. Inside the tiny stuffed creature is a recording my husband made for my son.

Michael pushed his paw and there was my husband’s deep manly voice. I decided then and there I had to get it together and keep it together for the sake of my children. I had to be strong for them. I had to find it deep within myself.

My Most Significant Moment as a Military Spouse

Before I met my husband I worked for the Castle Point VA hospital in New York. I saw the aftermath of war on men. I saw what it did to their bodies and to their minds. I had daily contact with these brave souls and they touch my life in ways they will never be aware.

Time marched on. I met and married a soldier, and we were blessed with four children. Veterans Day 2007 came; my husband was deployed. I packed up the toddler and the three girls into the car and drove off to the ceremony.

During the speeches I got lost in thoughts thinking of my husband who was somewhere in Iraq. I started looking around at the faces of these veterans wondering about all they had seen, places they had been.

My eyes then fell on those ladies seated beside those veterans. Those brave ladies who still supported their husbands. These wives were the generations that had gone before me. I couldn't help but wonder about the lives they led.

These were the military spouse that set the standard and broke the ground for the military spouses of today. These ladies inspire me. They convinced me that all those studies that you hear about the divorce rate in the military is on the rise can be overcome.

I often think back to Veterans Day and those specials ladies seated beside their husbands. I want to be one of those ladies who grow old alongside her husband. I want to inspire the next generation of military spouses or at least touch their lives in some way.

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The Pride of Americans

The “Tell-Your-Own-Story” military spouse contest sponsored by www.YourMilitary.com in connection with Lifetime TV’s Season 2 of ARMY WIVES has announced the contest winners. Their names and the winning essays can be read at www.YourMilitaryBlog.com.

Here’s the essay by Pamela B., one of the five grand prize winners, reprinted with permission from YourMilitary.com:

I have always been proud of the fact that my husband is a Marine (he joined the Corps shortly before we were married). I knew that what he did was important for our country and for the world.

However, two incidences early in his career really opened my eyes on a more personal level to the significance of Marines and all military members and their role in the lives of Americans.

After completing a marching performance at a local cultural festival in Southern California, my husband, his fellow band members, and their spouses were enjoying some treats provided by the event hosts. In mid-bite of his hotdog, a small boy approached my husband and, without saying a word, took a good look at his uniform and saluted him.

My husband hesitated only long enough to put down his food before returning the salute.

About that time, an anxious-looking woman ran up to claim her grandson. She mumbled a quick apology and was about to steer the small boy away when she saw the looks on our faces and knew that we had been moved.

Pausing, she explained that his grandfather had been a Marine and, even though the youngster was only three, his grandfather had taught him about Marines. "Now," she explained, "every time that he sees a Marine, and trust me, he knows the uniform well, he salutes."

We thanked her and her grandson, but even after all of these years, I still remember that small frame with the reverent look and the big salute.

Later that same year, during a performance at the Rose Bowl parade, my husband saw an incident that had a deep impact on him and which moved me when he shared it.

On the outside column of the unit, my husband had a clear view of the bystanders crowded along the parade route. He kept an eye out ahead to avoid any collisions with parade-goers. While scanning the audience ahead, he noticed a person in a wheelchair.

As the band got closer, the individual struggled to rise out of the chair. Two people on either side noticed what the disabled person was trying to do. Each took an arm and helped the person to his feet so that he could stand straight and tall as the Marine band and color guard passed the crowd.

These two incidents, and many others over the course of my husband's career, have given me a broader perspective, beyond my initial personal pride, of Marines and of all those that proudly serve in the armed services.

It was the actions of these two individuals that demonstrated the impact that military members make on the lives of ordinary citizens. How the uniform and those that wear it give pride, hope, and respect to Americans of all ages everywhere.

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Army’s Family Readiness Group (FRG) Has Support and Information Mission

Some of the winning essays in the military spouse contest sponsored by www.YourMilitary.com on the occasion of Season 2 of Lifetime TV’s ARMY WIVES mentioned the FRG. And although I’d heard the term FRG on the show ARMY WIVES, I wasn’t clear exactly what that term meant. (It wasn’t a term I heard back when I was a Mrs. Lieutenant.) So I turned to someone in the know.

Thanks to Candace from An Army Wife's Life blog (www.mollypitcher.blogspot.com) for the explanation below:

An FRG is a "Family Readiness Group" (www.armyfrg.org). The army changed the name to reflect the idea that the army wanted group leaders to pass along official information and prepare spouses and families to be ready for the challenges of the military rather than to "support" them (i.e., do things for them).

It is basically a semi-formalized version of the support and information groups that have always existed to one extent or another.

Technically, it is the responsibility of the company commander (during deployment --Rear Detachment). However, in reality the FRG is usually run by volunteers. The volunteers are supposed to attend training sessions to be group leaders.

If the commander is married and his or her spouse is ready, willing, and able to run the FRG, it can be a real blessing -- passing along valuable official information, providing helpful programs, communicating about resources on post, and also giving families a social outlet (although that's not technically the function of the meetings).

Often today, however, the commander is not married or the spouse has no time or interest to run the FRG. Occasionally another spouse can be found who works well with the commander and everything still runs smoothly. However, in many units the FRG does not exist or is very dysfunctional.

Here are a post and accompanying comments from my blog that give an idea how the FRG is a source of frustration for a lot of spouses: http://tinyurl.com/6dqj7j.

Family readiness is both a unit and a military readiness issue because a prepared family minimizes the distractions on the soldier and encourages retention. As times change, the army is actively looking for ways to ensure that each unit has avenues for families to receive that support, whether it is through FRG volunteers, paid civilian staffers, or the chain of command.

YourMilitary.com Announces Military Spouse Contest Winners

YourMilitary.com has announced the winners of the “Tell-Your-Own-Story” military spouse contest in connection with Lifetime Television’s series ARMY WIVES. The winners’ names and the winning essays are featured on www.YourMilitaryBlog.com and www.YourMilitarySpace.com.

Story submissions of not more than 500 words featured the happiest or saddest or most significant moment as a military spouse. The spouses of personnel from all branches were eligible – Army (including Reservists and National Guard), Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.

The five grand prize winners will receive, courtesy of Lifetime Television, Season 1 DVD of ARMY WIVES along with ARMY WIVES tote bags. Grand prize winners will also receive $100 American Express gift cards from YourMilitary.com.

All grand prize winners, 10 2^nd place winners, and honorable mentions will receive my book Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel. (Yes, I’m signing and mailing out 17 books.)

And now at www.YourMilitary.com there’s a free estate planning special report on why military personnel need a living trust besides a will. The report was prepared by my husband Mitchell R. Miller, attorney at law, of www.estateplanningforyou.com.

(This is a new site – go check it out for a free copy of 4 Important Questions You Should Ask About a Living Trust.)

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Episode 7 of Lifetime Television’s ARMY WIVES

Episode 7 of the television series ARMY WIVES had nothing outstanding about the episode. Yet it again reminded me of what I perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the show:

As always, for me, the parts about the men ring true – Pamela’s husband Chase worried that in combat a team member won’t have his back, Roxy’s husband Trevor insisting it is his duty to return to his unit in Iraq.

And it’s always the parts about the women that don’t ring true for me. I continue to find it hard to believe that the wife of the commanding general of the post is such good friends with an enlisted man’s wife.

If you want to get a different perspective on today’s military forces than that of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES, you can read blogs by active duty personnel and blogs by their spouses. Go to www.milblogging.com to find these blogs. You can search by top 100, recently updated, by gender, etc.

At random I clicked on the category recently added, and this blog title caught my eye – “PTSD, A Soldier’s Perspective” (http://ptsdasoldiersperspective.blogspot.com). The author of the blog is Scott Lee, who is attending the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. (How ironic, I thought, as MRS. LIEUTENANT takes place at Ft. Knox, which is south of Louisville.)

Here’s Lee’s description of his blog: We tell a soldier or veteran of war "welcome home" because the battle never leaves us, as we return from conflict everyday of our lives. This is my story and struggle with PTSD, it affects every aspect of my life. I want people to know what a combat veteran goes through after the media and people forget.

And later in his mission statement he says: It is my hope that by reading my story the general public will begin to understand the situation that our Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans will face in the coming years.

PTSD, of course, is post-traumatic stress disorder, and it can happen not only to combat veterans but to survivors of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other traumas. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has a website on this disorder at http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/index.jsp

The site includes a guide for military families for when a family member returns from a war zone. Here’s part of the description of this guide:

Reintegration is an adjustment for all involved. This information aims to make this process as smooth as possible and covers:

• A description of the common reactions that occur following deployment to a war zone
• How expectations about homecoming may not be the same for service members and family members
• Ways to talk and listen to one another in order to re-establish trust, closeness and openness
• Information about possible problems to watch out for
• How to offer and find assistance for your loved ones
• What help is available and what it involves

Perhaps the writers of ARMY WIVES could read this guide. Then they might write Roxy’s reaction to Trevor more realistically than they are now doing.

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ARMY WIVES Episode 6 of Season 2: Derogatory Reference to Gypsies

In episode 6 of Season 2 of Lifetime Television’s ARMY WIVES there was something that bothered me very much: Betty, the owner of the Hump Bar, uses the word “gypped” to mean “cheated.”

It amazes me that the writing staff of ARMY WIVES did not realize that this is a derogatory word based on the word Gypsy. The use of this word as a verb is very offensive to Gypsies.

Many people may never have seen real Gypsies. When my husband and I were stationed in Munich, Germany (from September 1970 to May 1972), the tram line ended at our stop. Sometimes Gypsy wagons would camp there overnight.

Yet my image of Gypsies – that is as clear today as it was the moment I saw it – comes from a visit to Dachau, a concentration camp near Munich. Dachau was established in March 1933 as a political prison camp only two months after Hitler became chancellor of Germany. And although many people died in Dachau, it was not a killing camp like Auschwitz and other concentration camps.

But in Dachau there were ovens that burned the bodies of the dead prisoners. Standing in the main camp, I chanced to look towards the gate separating the ovens from the main camp.

Silhouetted against the sky were three Gypsies, a woman and two men. For only a second I was startled – focused as I was on thinking about the six million Jews killed by the Nazis. Then I remembered that Gypsies had been another group designated for extinction by the Third Reich.

Those three Gypsies were doing exactly what my husband and I were doing – visiting Dachau in memory of our people’s murdered victims.

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Honoring U.S. Military Dead: Episode 5 of Season 2 of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES

Episode 5 of Season 2 of Lifetime Television’s ARMY WIVES dealt with a very serious topic – the commitment of the U.S. to find and bring home the remains of Americans missing in action of past conflicts.

And those of you who have read the non-fiction book on which the series is based – Tanya Biank’s ARMY WIVES – will understand the poignancy of Trevor’s radio talk remarks about the people who go to the far corners of the world looking for these remains. (No spoiler alert – you’ll have to read the non-fiction book yourself.)

In this episode there are a lot of mentions of JPAC – the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Below is JPAC’s mission as reported on the official U.S. military website www.jpac.pacom.mil

The mission of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nation's past conflicts. The highest priority of the organization is the return of any living Americans that remain prisoners of war. To date, the U.S. government has not found any evidence that there are still American POWs in captivity from past U.S. conflicts.

JPAC is located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The command was activated on Oct. 1, 2003, created from the merger of the 30-year-old U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, and the 11-year-old Joint Task Force - Full Accounting. Commanded by a flag officer, JPAC is manned by approximately 400 handpicked Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Department of the Navy civilians. The laboratory portion of JPAC, referred to as the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL), is the largest forensic anthropology laboratory in the world.

JPAC also maintains three permanent overseas detachments, each commanded by a lieutenant colonel, to assist with command and control, logistics and in-country support during investigation and recovery operations. They are Detachment One located in Bangkok, Thailand, Detachment Two in Hanoi, Vietnam and Detachment Three in Vientiane, Laos. JPAC has a fourth detachment, Detachment Four, located at Camp Smith, Hawaii, responsible for recovery team personnel when they are not deployed.

In episode 5 of ARMY WIVES an enlisted woman (the mother of two young sons) has to decide whether she will attend the memorial service for the remains of the birth father she never knew. While she is unsure what to do, her father’s Vietnam army buddies are relieved that, after 35 years, they can finally honor their comrade.

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Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES Episode 4 of Season 2: What a Difference a Writer Can Make

This episode 4 of season 2 of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES – titled “Leaving the Tribe” – is on an entirely different plane than the first three episodes of this season. I looked up on www.imdbpro.com the credited writer of the episode – Bruce Zimmerman – with story credit to Nick Thiel.

And then I knew why this episode was so emotional I’m writing this blog post with zig zag lines in front of my eyes from a migraine due to tension.

Nick Thiel is a co-executive producer on USA Network’s BURN NOTICE, the second season for which I’m waiting for July 10 with much anticipation. And Bruce Zimmerman was a writer and supervising producer on Fox’s K-VILLE, which last season I faithfully watched its compelling stories of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and I much regret there will be no second season.

Why did I find this 4^th episode of season 2 of ARMY WIVES so compelling? Many reasons. Here are some – without giving anything away:

Denise talking by computer hook-up to her husband in Iraq when he says that what she’s doing isn’t proper for an officer’s wife. (A theme of MRS. LIEUTENANT.)

Roxy talking about the history of the Hump Bar as the first such integrated place in that area. (Another theme of MRS. LIEUTENANT.)

Claudia Joy and her husband the general walking over to two soldiers just off a plane from Iraq who are not met by any loved ones. (Also a theme of MRS. LIEUTENANT as well as the book’s website listing of www.soldiersangels.org, whose motto is “May No Soldier Go Unloved.”)

Hats off to Bruce Zimmerman and Nick Thiel for an episode that rang very true – and very compelling.

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ARMY WIVES Military Spouse Contest “Tell-Your-Own-Story” Deadline Extended

The military spouse entries at www.yourmilitary.com to "Tell-Your-Own-Story" were so heart-felt that it was decided to give military spouses more time to enter. The original contest deadline was only three weeks after the contest was announced. And when writing about such significant or traumatic moments, people often require time for reflection before ever putting pen to paper or fingers to computer keyboard.

The emotions that can arise from thinking about such moments have been demonstrated by some of the comments left on blogs with a review of MRS. LIEUTENANT or a guest post about MRS. LIEUTENANT. If one of these comments made me cry, I can only imagine what reliving these memories must have done to the person leaving the comment.

As “Tell-Your-Own-Story” was to be an opportunity for military spouses to tell the stories that live deep inside them, the deadline is being extended to provide more time for these stories to rise to the surface from where they may have been deeply buried.

July 31^st is the new deadline.

Check out the submission rules on www.yourmilitary.com and note the prizes – especially the prizes for the five grand prize winners that include gifts from Lifetime Television in connection to the second season of its popular series ARMY WIVES.

And then – if you are a present or past military spouse – enter the contest to tell your own story.

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ARMY WIVES Episode 3 Review/Military Spouse Contest Deadline June 29

Lifetime TV’s episode 3 of season 2 of ARMY WIVES appears to have fallen off the back of a truck. It seemed to me as if I were watching a recycled TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, or at the very least a recycled IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

There were no scenes with all four army wives, Joan was missing in action, and her army husband only had scenes of “shooting hoops.” There didn’t seem to be a center for the episode – only a series of vignettes. And, boy, suddenly Roxy’s hair is looking really good. What’s with that?

In contrast to an artificial-feeling episode of ARMY WIVES, those of you who are present or past military spouses still have time to enter the “Tell-Your-Own-Story” contest. See contest rules at www.yourmilitary.com for submissions of 500 words or less about your happiest or saddest or most significant military spouse moment.

The five grand prize winners will each receive a Season 1 ARMY WIVES DVD set from Lifetime, a $100 American Express Gift Card, and a copy of MRS. LIEUTENANT. The 10 2^nd place winners will also receive a copy of MRS. LIEUTENANT.

If you have friends or relatives who are present or past military spouses, tell them about the contest. This is their chance to tell their own story!

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Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES – My Take on Episode 2 of Season 2

The start of episode 2 of Lifetime’s popular television series ARMY WIVES had me worried – more of that over-the-top voiceover. “Oh, no,” I thought, “if this season is going to be filled with voiceover, I’m out of here.”

(Did anyone get the reference to the Whoopi Goldberg movie SISTER ACT? You know, when the guy in the bar says about the two nuns Whoopi and Kathy Najimy – “If this turns into a nuns’ bar, I’m out of here.”)

Fortunately, after the first few minutes the second episode of ARMY WIVES turned into a regular episode. And we were also spared any more of the cloying radio talk of Pamela that took place throughout episode 1 of season 2. This episode 2 the actors actually got to act.

And the best part of this episode for me? The scenes of Roxy’s husband Trevor in Iraq as well as Roxy’s responses to Trevor being in harm’s way. (Especially poignant was the reminder that those who stay behind can never really understand the “experience” of those fighting.)

And without giving anything away -- I wasn’t surprised by the colonel’s decision about her pregnancy. As soon as the screen cut away from the doctor’s examining room, I knew what she would do.

FYI -- MARRIED TO THE ARMY blog has posted information about the military spouse contest I’m co-sponsoring with YourMilitary.com. The deadline is June 29 – so there’s plenty of time to enter. Go to www.yourmilitary.com for submission rules or to
http://marriedtothearmy.typepad.com/married_to_the_army/2008/06/share-your-story-contest.html.

What did you think of episode 2 of season 2 of ARMY WIVES?

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Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES Season 2 Premiere – What Did You Think?

For two days I’ve been mulling over what I thought of the season 2 premiere of the popular Lifetime television series ARMY WIVES, which is based on Tanya Biank’s nonfiction book by the same name.

To be honest, the episode didn’t work for me. Yes, I understand that in order to create suspense throughout the entire hour of the show certain things were revealed in a specific sequence. (I’m not saying what in case you haven’t gotten to see the episode yet.)

What bothered me was the over-the-top commentary of Pamela on her radio show “Have At It.” Her commentary kept yanking me out of the story and into an annoying mood – “Get on with the show!” I wanted to shout each time Pamela began her long, drawn-out ramblings.

It will be interesting to see whether the next episode also depends on Pamela’s running commentary, or whether the show’s writers will decide to write action scenes instead of lines for an audio podcast.

Does anyone agree or disagree with me?

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army wives, Lifetime, season 2 premiere, Tanya Biank

“Tell-Your-Own-Story” Contest for Season 2 Premiere of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES Television Series

I’m excited to be a partner in this contest beginning today for military spouses to tell their own stories. Here’s the press release going out on PRWeb:

The season 2 premiere of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES television series is the occasion of a new contest sponsored by military relocation service YourMilitary.com. The First Annual “Tell-Your-Own-Story” contest is open to all present and past spouses of military personnel.

Submissions of not more than 500 words will be accepted from Sunday, June 8 – the date of the first episode of season 2 of ARMY WIVES – through midnight on Sunday, June 29. Multiple submissions allowed.

Story submissions should feature the happiest or saddest or most significant moment as a military spouse, and stories must focus on an event actually connected to the military. Your Military community ambassadors will serve as judges for the contest.

The spouses of personnel from all branches are eligible – Army (including Reservists and National Guard), Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.

To submit a story, go to www.YourMilitary.com and click on “Contest Submission.” The contest rules will appear on the submission page.

In honor of the Fourth of July, YourMilitary.com and YourMilitarySpace.com will feature the best 15 submissions. All 10 2^nd place winners will receive prizes from YourMilitary.com, including the new book Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel by Phyllis Zimbler Miller (www.mrslieutenant.com). The five grand prize winners will also receive Season 1 of ARMY WIVES on DVD.

“Yourmilitary.com is pleased to offer military spouses – both men and women – the opportunity to tell their stories in their own words,” Nancy Brown, president of Your Military, said. “We look forward to sharing the best of these stories with our world-wide audience.”

YourMilitary.com makes relocation easier for military families by helping these families learn about their new communities before moving. YourMilitary.com also offers job websites for every location.

I want to encourage any past or present military spouse to submit to the contest. This is your opportunity to tell your own stories.

Technorati Tags: army wives, officers wives, officers wife, Vietnam War, Mrs. Lieutenant, Iraq War, contest, Lifetime, military spouses, prizes, YourMilitary.com

Virtual Book Tour; Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES; Ft. Knox Reporter

Check out the backstory of MRS. LIEUTENANT at http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/backstory/2008/05/may-4-1970-oh-1.html/ and also my guest blog at www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com on this Day 3 of the MRS. LIEUTENANT virtual book tour.

Leave a comment at www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com to be entered into a drawing sponsored by Pump Up Your Book Promotion. For more stops on my blog trail, visit www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com.

Last night I watched – courtesy of Lifetime’s website – the first season finale of Lifetime’s wildly popular tv series ARMY WIVES, based on the non-fiction book by Tanya Biank. I wanted to be prepared for the second season premier this Sunday, June 8.

After the cliffhanger ending, vignettes of each of the main characters were featured. I particularly responded to the voice over that these women were from different classes and cultures and yet had one thing in common – THEY FELL IN LOVE WITH A SOLDIER.

And that’s exactly what MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL is about – four very different women whose one thing in common is falling in love with a soldier. (ARMY WIVES and MRS. LIEUTENANT are both set against the background of unpopular U.S. wars – Afghanistan/Iraq and Vietnam, respectively.)

And I was just interviewed by Josh Coffman of The News-Enterprise in Kentucky about MRS. LIEUTENANT, which takes place in 1970 at Ft. Knox. I’m looking forward to reading his article because his news beat is Ft. Knox. (The above-mentioned backstory guest post describes my time at Ft. Knox.)

Coffman asked me what relevance my novel had today for women whose husbands are being deployed now. My response: The novel’s underlying theme of sisterhood – of women bonding together to get through a difficult time – has as much relevance today as it did in 1970.

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Respecting the Commitment of Graduating ROTC College Seniors

It’s college graduation season – and while this season gives me numerous blogging topics for www.flippingburgersandbeyond.blogspot.com – I’m talking about something different in this www.mrslieutenant.blogspot.com post.

And this something different is that, throughout the U.S., there are graduating college seniors who, as ROTC cadets, are now being commissioned as officers in the different branches of the U.S. military.

I was reminded of this by the May 20^th Wall Street Journal “Main Street” column by William McGurn entitled “Why Harvard Harasses the Military.” In the column McGurn contrasts college graduation at Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas, with college graduation at Harvard. The contrast has to do with the different level of respect given to each college’s graduating ROTC cadets.

Here’s a description of Benedictine: “After all the degrees had been handed out, two young men in dress blue were called back on stage. Before their families, their classmates, and their teachers, these men raised their right hands and swore to ‘support and defend’ our Constitution. And then Lt. Jeff Fetters and Lt. Michael Mundie were presented to their class as ‘the newest officers in the United States Army.’”

As I was writing this post, my younger daughter said that I should write about when her father was commissioned. I went to my albums – and discovered it was exactly 40 years ago today – on Tuesday, May 21, 1968 – that the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army Reserve Officers Training Corps of Michigan State University held its 1968 ROTC commissioning parade at “four-ten o’clock” at Demonstration Hall Field!

I still have the commissioning program with the list of the ROTC army cadets including my future husband and his assigned branch – infantry. Major General Robert H. Curtin gave the main address: “There is a need for top quality, professionally qualified, dedicated and motivated people in the military service of our country.” He could be speaking about today.

With the approach of Memorial Day, instead of only thinking about the beach or shopping or the fourth installment of the movie “Indiana Jones,” keep in mind these patriotic words and show respect for the men and women today who support and defend our Constitution.

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army wives, officers wives, officers wife, virtual book tour, Vietnam War, Mrs. Lieutenant, Iraq War, ROTC, college graduation, Wall Street Journal

Today 38 Years Ago Armor Officers Basic #21 Started

Armor Officers Basic #21 ran from 13 May 70 to 16 Jul 70. On May 13 the four AOB wives in MRS. LIEUTENANT had not yet met.

Here’s how Sharon Gold, one of the four wives, describes her husband’s return home from his first day of AOB:

The Fiat appears in the open area between the three buildings. Sharon races down the stairs. Robert gets out, looks around as if checking who else has arrived home, and locks the car door. He kisses her hello.

"How was it? What did you do?"

"Cool it," he says out of the side of his mouth. "Wait until we get upstairs."

They walk up the outside stairs of the building, then down the outer balcony to their apartment door. Sharon unlocks the door and lets Robert enter first, then she follows him back to the bedroom, where he immediately sheds his uniform.

"It went okay. There's about 30 of us in the class. We filled out forms and listened to lectures. Not much action yet."

She doesn't want Robert to see any "action." She wants him to spend a quiet two years in the army behind a desk somewhere – if possible in Washington or some other big city – where she can pretend to herself he's not part of the war machine.

"What were the lectures about?"

"Mostly administrative details, TDY pay, uniform allotment."

"What's TDY?"

"Temporary duty. That's what this assignment is for me. Same as going to Ft. Holabird for MI – military intelligence – training will be temporary. The assignment after that will be a permanent one."

"And we'll get housing provided then, right?"

He turns away from her, places his insignia on the dresser. "If it's an accompanied tour."

"What's that mean?"
His back is still towards her. "Unaccompanied tours are to combat areas – Vietnam."

Sharon sits down on the edge of the bed. "Did they say anything about the chances of your going to Vietnam?"

Robert shakes his head.

To read the first four chapters of MRS. LIEUTENANT -- one from the point of view of each of the four women -- go to www.mrslieutenant.com and click on READ THE NOVEL.

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army wives, officers wives, officers wife, virtual book tour, Vietnam War, Mrs. Lieutenant, Iraq War, Armor Officers Basic, Sharon Gold

Mrs. Lieutenant Then (1970) and Now (2008)

I read Tanya Biank’s column “Rank, Wives and Friendship: Can They Mix?” on Milspouse.com with appreciation for how things have changed in 38 years.

(FYI – Biank is the author of the non-fiction book ARMY WIVES: THE UNWRITTEN CODE OF MILITARY MARRIAGE. The hugely popular Lifetime television series “Army Wives” is based on this book.)

Biank reported, in their own words, the wives of officers and the wives of enlisted men describing forming close friendships among themselves.

In 1970, when I was a Mrs. Lieutenant, we wives of officers wouldn’t have considered being friends with the wives of enlisted men. In those days we understood that it was a class (or maybe caste) system, and we were at the bottom rung of the elite.

I clearly remember that, for our graduation luncheon as wives of the officers attending Armor Officers Basic training, we had to serve sherry. This was so even though none of us AOB wives liked the drink. But the post’s commanding general’s wife liked sherry.

In my book MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL, the rank of husbands plays an important role for one newly married lieutenant’s wife. Donna Lautenberg is a Puerto Rican who has grown up in an enlisted man’s family. Suddenly she finds herself married to an Anglo and an officer.

Donna arrives at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, on May 4, 1970 -- the day that the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four Kent State University Vietnam War protesters. And over the next few weeks Donna learns it is not always easy to adjust to new expectations.

In connection with Tanya Biank’s column, today we can hope that a new army officer’s wife who grew up in an enlisted man’s family would not find it as difficult to adjust to her changed position. This optimism appears to be thanks to the lowering of many of the social barriers between the wives of enlisted men and the wives of officers. Another victory for sisterhood!

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army wives, officers wives, officers wife, virtual book tour, Vietnam War, Mrs. Lieutenant, Iraq War, enlisted men's wives, Ft. Knox, Kent State Shootings