Payton Stolze

Mrs. Milliken

6 May 2013

Rural Literature Project

Life Of An Army Wife

Army wives would mostly likely describe themselves as strong, loving, caring wives of a soldier. They are very proud of what their men have done to protect our country. Army wives have a lot of strength and hope for their men to do what they need to do and make it home safely.

Communication has changed throughout the years for army families. For many years, the only way you could communicate with your spouse was by letters. That was Linnie and Norman’s only option besides personal contact. However, in today’s world, there are many ways you can communicate. You can send each other letters, like Linnie and Norman, or you can email, Skype, text or call on cell phones, or send care packages.

Living arrangements for Linnie and Norman were very difficult. Today, living arrangements are mixed for many army wives.Sometimes you feel like you’re alone because you have no other family unless you have kids. But in some ways you might want to be alone. Linnie was mostly in the same house as Norman but not always in the same room. The only way Linnie was alone was when Norman was gone. In the army, your spouse is often away from home.

For army wives now and back then “keeping the love alive” was at times very hard. One of the main struggles that army wives, including Linnie, had to deal with was saying goodbye. Leaving on assigment is one of the hardest things an army wife and family have to deal with. You never know if your loved one is going to come back alive. No army wife ever wants to get the visit from an official that has “the letter.” That “letter” is one of the hardest heartbreaking things there possibly could be. Every time Norman left, Linnie would be heartbroken just like every army wife out there is today.

I hope that when you think of an army wife now you will give them pride and joy. Most people don’t realize how hard it is to be an army wife. Just having the thought of losing your best friend/spouse when they were fighting for our country is heartbreaking.

Reflection:

I really liked this book. It was very easy to understand where the characters were because I personally live in Nebraska. Having books written with places that you are familiar with is easier and more interesting than reading a book that has an unfamiliar setting. This book shows how hard times were back then and what it was like to have a husband in the military. I loved how I could feel the love between Norman and Linnie. This author did an awesome job writing this novel.