2010020408

Married Couples Serve Together In 82nd Airborne

By R.Gregg, The Raleigh Telegram

Thursday, February 4, 2010

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI - A lot people still have the conception that the United States military is still “this man’s Army” but female soldiers are just as much a part of today’s armed forces as their male counterparts.

In addition, I was pleasantly surprised to meet two married couples who met in the military and married and are now serving together and deployed together in Haiti.

Both couples are assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion in the Airborne Division from Fort Bragg as part of the relief mission in Port au Prince in Haiti.

The battalion was deployed after the earthquake and helps coordinate the deliver of supplies from the airport to other units and the Haitian people.

One couple that I was literally bunked next to at the airport during my time embedded with their unit in the 407th were the Strohmeiers.

Scott and Guillermina Strohmeier, from Chicago and New York, met while deployed and later got married. Both of them still try to get assigned to the same missions, but there’s no guarantee with the Army.

“Deployments can be tough, but we try to coordinate,” said Scott Strohmeier.

Both of the Strohmeiers are inveterate professionals. Quite frankly, I would have not known they were married if another soldier had not informed me of their status, as the couple focus on their duties that keep them busy.

Another soldier in our camp at the 407th is Alexis Church, who is also married to a soldier in her same battalion. Church says that “professionalism is the key” to making a marriage work when both husband and wife are deployed together.

“When you’re on deployment, your mission comes first,” she said.

Obviously, couples do not sleep in the same bed or cot and expressions of affection are not allowed while on deployment. And even if you could do that, you’re not going to get much privacy when you’re sleeping in an open field with about 100 other soldiers.

“I still address my husband by his rank in the field,” said Church.

Alexis is assigned to the HHC unit while her husband is a mechanic in the Bravo company, so days may go by when they do not see each other.

The couple have been married for one year and one month.

“We met in Iraq and we dated for about eight months before getting married,” she said.

According to Church, the Army has worked with the pair during their deployments.

“The unit here has been very supportive,” she said, adding that at Fort Bragg, the Army chaplain sets up married couples retreats about once a month.

Church said that she is very proud of the fact that the couple were able to save enough to buy a house together, without having to get a VA loan.

Church said that in addition to a husband and wife relationship, you need something more.

“You really need a friendship relationship, too,” she said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Special thanks to the Strohmeiers for obtaining this reporter one of the cots to sleep in. Also special thanks to Alexis Church for loaning me a mosquito net, something very important in Haiti.

All of the soldiers I met in the 407th were very welcoming and friendly, and they made it a joy to report on our men and women in the US Airborne.