This is my first foray into the world of blogging. Frankly I have paid only limited attention to the whole concept. Yeah, I know where have I been for the last few years? As a writer I should be a seasoned blogger long before now. Well that is perhaps a different story for a different day. But before I travel much further in this brave new world, I should probably clarify what I mean by the title “Secret Lives of Army Wives”. If you are looking for hot steamy discussions and gossip about some dark underbelly of the Army and its subculture of spouses, keep on clicking that mouse my friend. Those secrets are not mine to tell. Instead, what I hope to be able to convey is that what most people don’t see. What people know about the Army is limited to what has populated the news media over the last several years. The media focus largely on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the men and women who are there fighting. But for every soldier ‘in the sand box’, there is someone waiting for them, who’s life has been turned upside down. Wives, husbands, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, spend months and years separated from loved ones, living under the constant fear that the knock on the door will one day come and the person on the other side, silver badges glittering in the sun and a look of lingering dread in his eyes, will reach out a hand and ask to come in. This often unspoken fear is just one of many secrets kept closely guarded by Army families. The lonlieness of long deployments and short training exercises, the separation that is just a part of growing up an Army brat, the moves from school to school, the demands of making new friends are all challenges Army families face every few years. But there is also the excitement of a new place, sometimes a new country, new people, and new traditions, and perhaps most importantly, the network of friends that no matter how far apart you may find yourselves, you know that one phone call and they would be by your side in heart beat. All of these things are a part of the secret lives of Army families. They don’t talk about it, because it just is.

I began my journey, and yes I see it as a journey (isn’t life a journey?) as an Army wife in September of 2006. I do not kid myself. I know that my introduction to the life of an Army wife has been cake compared to many. But already I find I have my own little bag of secrets that I look forward to sharing with those of you who are interested in “the Secret Lives of Army Wives!”