Are there any married couples who enjoy a deployment? There's not much I like about deployment-- except for maybe having total control of the TV remote and eating what I want for dinner.
But other than those insignificant bonuses, deployments usually don't do my marriage any good.
You see, my wife Dana has certain expectations of how her perfect husband (me) should act and what her perfect husband (me) should say before, during, and after she helps defend our nation.
I swear, one of these days I'm going to stop her from watching The Bachelor. Because Dana is never slow to remind me that the last couple of deployments I typically expressed the “wrong” emotions before she left, didn't pay enough attention to our shallow Skype chats while she was gone, and bombed on the celebration when she returned.
Even though a small portion of her baseless argument may be true, we were finally starting to put it behind us. Well, she is deploying again. So thank you Uncle Sam for giving me yet another chance at making my wife feel as happy as a deployed Airman could possibly feel!
In the coming months it will be Dana's job to practice fighting for our nation and it will be my job to practice making Dana happy.
How should a loving husband prepare for such a task? I simply asked her what she expected of me. And then I put it on camera so there's a much smaller probability of me screwing up as bad as I have in the past.
In all seriousness, deployments are a very fragile time for marriages and every couple handles them differently. This interview offers some quality insight on what my wife expects from both of us while she's away.
If you have questions about what your wife expects from you...maybe you should ask.
Want to know what female servicemembers really want for predeployment, deployment and homecoming? My wife will tell you. Check out my interview with her by clicking "play" below.
