Day 4: Fav. Book

I recently read and truly enjoyed

You Know When The Men Are Gone

by Siobhan Fallon.

It takes a lot for me to like Military themed items. I don't like war movies, (although I secretly watch movies about Iraq) - to try and glimpse into what Brad went thru, without him having to talk about it.

Since our PCS, I have had some time on my hands, and I have been getting into the culture of military wives.

While in San Antonio, I didn't really understand it. I had my civilian life, and Brad had his military life - and that was just his work, it didn't interfere with my work, or my life, or even OUR life. Except when he had to leave for deployments.

Now that we have moved, and I don't have family or friends here... it is a different experience. I have been asked (ever so nicely) to be the Key Spouse for 4 of Brad's 6 squadrons that he is the First Sgt for. I am going to 3 different training sessions, if work and interviews allow. I have been to Patrick AFB more times in 6 months, then I ever set foot on Lackland AFB in the 7 years that Brad and I were together in San Antonio.

The book was extremely well written, and if you like Army Wives on lifetime.. you will enjoy this book. Even if you haven't read anything military related, I highly recommend picking up this one.

From Amazon.com:

In Fort Hood housing, like all army housing, you get used to hearing through the walls... You learn too much. And you learn to move quietly through your own small domain. You also know when the men are gone. No more boots stomping above, no more football games turned up too high, and, best of all, no more front doors slamming before dawn as they trudge out for their early formation, sneakers on metal stairs, cars starting, shouts to the windows above to throw them down their gloves on cold desert mornings. Babies still cry, telephones ring, Saturday morning cartoons screech, but without the men, there is a sense of muted silence, a sense of muted life.

There is an army of women waiting for their men to return in Fort Hood, Texas. Through a series of loosely interconnected stories, Siobhan Fallon takes readers onto the base, inside the homes, into the marriages and families-intimate places not seen in newspaper articles or politicians' speeches.

When you leave Fort Hood, the sign above the gate warns, You've Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming. It is eerily prescient.

Anyways - here is a video from the author: