What a ride! We are officially retired!

Well, this is it...my husband is officially retired from the U.S. Army. I remember when he first left for basic training back in 1998 and we were newly married. We were living with my parents until he left and i stayed with my parents until he graduated basic, where we just happened to get stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA. (which is home) There, he was a Cavalry scout for quite a few years. I remember when 9-11 happened, and the deployments started. That was hard for our little family. He did two tours to Iraq. The first one was during the initital invade back in 2003. We had no idea what to expect. The year went by quickly for us, since we had our two boys. The second deployment back in 2006 was a little tougher, only because our daughter was just born and he left for Iraq when she was 3 weeks old. That time he was gone for 15 months.




When he had returned back in 2007, a few months later we got orders to go to Kentucky where he was to become an instructor. We were blessed because even though we were leaving our families behind, we had 5 Army couples that we were good friends with, move to Kentucky with us. Therefore it wasn't as hard to adapt from being away from home. In 2009 we were able to move back home to Washington, where he was gearing up for a deployment to Afganistan and two weeks before his departure, his injuries from Iraq a few years ago, finally caught up with him, making him unable to deploy to Afganistan after all. Since then, he's been patiently waiting for the Army to retire him, after his 13 year military career. (My husband was hoping he'd make it to 20 years before the injuries caught up with him.)



The Army has been good to us, I must say. I've met some amazing people along the way and have had some wonderful experiences. The Army has taught me to be independant and to support others physically and mentally. I am so proud of the job that my husband has done for the U.S. Army and I'm also proud that I've been his main supporter all along the way.



So here we are... my husband's last day to wear his uniform. What a ride!