Deployed, Married Soldiers Reenlist Together

In a quaint ceremony held on a patch of gravel outside their commander’s office, the two recited the oath of enlistment together, vowing to obey the orders of their commanders in chief for three more years. As National Guardsmen, they call both the president of the United States and the governor of their state commander in chief.

“It is a unique opportunity to reenlist a married couple at the same time,” said their company commander, 1st Lt. Buddy Francisco.

Both Soldiers, who are former Marines, volunteered to deploy to Iraq when they heard the 81st BCT was being mobilized. Emily enlisted in the Guard in April 2007 and had been working for another Washington National Guard unit full time, but Mat was out of the military completely.

He completed his contract with the Marines and was honorably discharged, Dec. 24, 2006, after seven years of service. He joined the Guard in July just to mobilize with the 81st Brigade. After a two-week school, he caught up with the brigade and his wife during the mobilization process at Fort McCoy, Wis.

The Suhrs have been married for just over a year, but have known each other almost five years. They met while serving with the Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Currently, Emily is working in the Public Affairs Office for the 81st Brigade and Mat is part of the Personal Security Detail Team. Though they get to share living quarters, their jobs do call for some time apart. Though they miss each other and worry during their separations, their military training gets them through it.

“I worry about my wife very much. But since we were both Marines, we both have that ‘go-hard, get-em’ attitude,” said Mat.

This is not their first military ceremony together. Emily pinned Mat with his sergeant stripes while they were still in Colombia, and she was there when he enlisted in the National Guard in July. Mat is hoping to take part in promoting Emily to staff sergeant in coming weeks.

Headquarters, 81st BCT will be headed home to Washington this summer without the Suhrs -- they have not only extended their enlistment in the National Guard, they have also volunteered to stay in Iraq to serve with the new unit taking their unit’s place at Camp Ramadi.

“I think it shows a lot of dedication to the service of their country and dedication to each other,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Muzzy, Mat’s supervisor, about their reenlistment and voluntary extension in Iraq. “It isn’t an easy thing being married and in the military, let alone being married to a spouse who is also in the military.”

When the couple does return to the U.S., they plan to move to California and continue with their college education.

I have such mixed emotions about this story. First and foremost, intense pride, for being a citizen of a country that can produce people of this quality. But I have other feelings, in particular that she shouldn’t be in harms way. Yes, I know that she’s a Marine, but that doesn’t change my feelings that women should be far away from combat duty. But I can certainly understand their wanting to serve together.

I guess I’m happy for them, if they’re happy: That’s what’s most important.

Mark

“Yes, I know that she’s a Marine, but that doesn’t change my feelings that women should be far away from combat duty.”

I have no problem with women in the military, because I was one for 20 years.

However, my personal beef is women with CHILDREN in the full-time military. National Guard is another story, unless deployed.

I can’t begin to tell you the headaches that causes for everyone up and down the chain of command. And truly, women with kids that join (you never used to be able to) drop out at a greater rate than other females, so it’s a lot of money wasted on training, IMHO. Training for ONE soldier from the day they sign up until they’re done with Basic and then their schooling (some of which are very lengthy) can run anywhere from $75-100K PER SOLDIER.

I waited until I was two years out from retirement to start my family at age 35. And that was a ready-made one that I married into, LOL! Our agreement was that the minute I was eligible to retire, I did. And I did. And then I raised kids...which was a NIGHTMARE compared to the military, LOL! (Three boys, 3, 4 & 5.)

Women CAN have it all...just not all at once. :)

And I find it gravely unfair to the kids, because I worked with families whose ‘Moms’ were off to war during ODS. Not to be overtly sexist, but I saw with my own eyes that little kids that have to say ‘Good Bye’ to Mom for big chunks of time have a really rough time of it, even if Dad is 100% competent and he has a great support network of Grandma and Aunties in place to help out.

Some things just are what they are. But even the military can’t discriminate anymore, even if it would help the bottom line. And we spend A LOT of tax dollars on the military; it’s third in line behind our National Debt and all the STUPID, wasteful dollars that go to H&HS ‘programs.’

OK. I’m done. :)

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