How it all began

Before 2004, I had never given much thought to the four branches of our military. I'm sure that if I thought about it hard enough, I could have come up with their names, but I knew little other than that. And I'm sure I would have made the mistake of calling any of them soldiers. Soldiers are in the Army. Sailors are in the Navy, Airmen (and women) are in the Air Force, and Marines are, well, Marines. All of this to say, I never thought I'd be married to any one of them.

B and I were married one month before he started law school. This was expected. But he began law school like many, planning to change the world one case at a time. It became evident within the first couple of weeks that we needed some sort of plan for after law school. There are many areas of law in which a fledgling law student can specialize. B had become friends with a guy named John and John was considering joining some branch of the military and becoming a JAG. B and John share an affinity for copious amounts of coffee, so they became good friends fast and soon the military lawyer idea began to swirl around in B's head too. Around this time also, B had lunch with my uncle who mentioned that B should look into joining the military. After this, it was time to talk to me. I can remember it like yesterday. It was a Thursday in November. We had just turned the lights out when he says to me, "What would you think about me joining the Marine Corps?" (Actually he started the conversation with, "There's something we need to talk about.." which he quickly learned is not the way to begin anything you don't want your wife to automatically freak out about.) Oddly, I felt a really strange peace in that moment and told him that I thought it was a good idea. He signed a law contract shortly after the beginning of the next year.

Now, almost 5 years, an OCS graduation, a law school graduation, a passed bar exam, a Superior Court clerkship, a TBS graduation, 5 months at a permanent duty station, and two promotions later, we are 5 weeks away from NJS graduation. (Whew!) This means that B will finally, FINALLY be a completely trained and official attorney for the Marine Corps.

Oh, and a Captain!