My Hero By:Faith Albrecht

Military Life, a term that is used to describe a lifestyle of a certian breed of people.  When I was younger I believed that it was the easiest lifestyle in the world. I would often wonder why everyone made a big deal out of the fact that our troops - who signed their name on a contract - went off to combat. Ofcourse like the many other people who are ignorant of what this lifestyle is really like, I  use to think that military wives had all the money in the world. Today, as I sit in yet another transition position, I can tell you that military life, is never what it seems. Then one summer day on the 7th of May, 1995 my eyes were opened, as I met the man that I would later fall in love with and marry. Looking back, I can still smile about how my life went from having alot of freedom to say what I wanted to really watching my p's and q's around everyone.

At first, I hated the Navy, they took from me so much early on (or so I thought), because I spent more time watching young couples together, walking hand in hand in the park or on the beach or sitting at a luncheon laughing and planning what they were going to do for the week, while I stood on a US Navy pier waving good-bye to my husband as his ship cleared the pier to deploy for 6 months. It was with exuberance and joy that I would rush to the mail box like a love sick hound looking for a letter or two from my husband, and feeling anger and disappointment when I didn't find any, or on other days when I would get a stack of letters that often left me scratching my head because the letters were out of sequence so I didnt know which one to read first. 

All of the time, and in each letter my husband's assuring words of " I love you, and it will be ok, we will get through this together" ringing clearly through the letters, and phone calls and then eventually email. It made deployment easier to get through knowing that my husband was right there to hold me and help even when he wasnt physically around. We fought and argued as if he was right in the room with me, we had our money struggles, and I learned to pinch a penny and then some as we went through our life together.

 That is why, after 12 years of marriage, and seven different duty station changes, I can call my husband IT1 Jeffrey J. Albrecht, my hero. You see, together I with my daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca have seen my husband off to sea through many deployments. Even from far away, my husband can still make me feel like it will all be ok. When I learned recently at thirty-four years old  that I have high blood pressure, and possible coronary artery disease, my husband was the first one to tell me that it would be ok, and that he would do what he could to help take the stress on his own shoulders.

I never could really explain how this helped me.  But just knowing that on top of doing his job which I am sure is very stressful, my husband came in right away and went beyond the call of duty for his family. I have learned many things through my marriage from my husband. Even though, he will be the first to say that he didn't teach me. I have learned to be more patient and humble, and I have learned to let alot of stuff go that early on use to bother me when I was much younger. I have learned as well that when I want something done efficently, that at times it is ok to be a bit aggressive, as long as I am respectable about it and give others the same respect that I want from them in return.

Unlike most of the younger military of today, my husband is not new to combat, he served during Desert Storm/ Desert Shield when he first went into the military. I feel honored that he would choose me to be his wife. I look forward to adding many more years onto our life together, as we watch our children grow up, and we grow old together.