Day 13

A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)

First off, I'm not writing a letter. Because I already wrote one forever ago attempting to get them to come to Hawaii. Oh, well, I'll keep dreaming.

Dear Rascal Flatts,
We live on a very small Marine Corps base located on the very small island of Oahu in the middle of the very large Pacific ocean. It's lonely here as we have no family near or no friends we haven't met here. Why do we live here? Because we gave up our lives and our families to move here to spend a few months a year with the men we love.

Battalions stationed here at Kaneohe Bay, for the most part, are on a rotation schedule. Each one replaces another in Afghanistan and formerly Iraq. So we all know and are prepared for the fact that our men will deploy every year. Some people compare our deployments to those of the Army and say we are lucky. We do 7 month deployments while they do a year or more. But you must consider, we do 9 month long work-ups where our husbands are gone for training NOT on island in preparation of that deployment. Our Battalion deployed to OIF February through August/September of 2008, returned home and began the workup for the following deployment. They deployed again to OEF starting the first week of May 2009, returning home in November. Only to prepare and to begin the next workup for a second deployment to OEF later this year.

There are few things in life that can keep a spouse sane during all this change and danger. Your music is one of those few things. Your lyrics inspire and your tunes keep us occupied. When we get together for dinner or movies we can crank up your songs and jam all night long forgetting for even just a few moments that our husbands might not return to us. And then in turn, when we have a day where we want to wallow in our sadness, there is a song for that as well, that we can turn on and cry to and no one ever needs to know.

Please come to our very small base on our very small island and share your music with us and our husbands. I can guarantee it would be something never forgotten in the lives of those you shared with.

Sincerely,

2/3 Echo Wives,
Semper Fi is how we live our Lives.