Family ties thicker than blood

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

01.28.2008

Story by Sgt. Jerome Bishop 

27th Public Affairs Detachment

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By Sgt. Jerome Bishop
Multi-National Division – Baghdad Public Affairs

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — To some Soldiers, married life and Army life are more interconnected than others. These Soldiers aren't just married, but married to other Soldiers, which in its own can sometimes present problems, adding to a laundry list of other potential problems in any marriage.

For two Ironhorse Soldiers, Family ties of all shapes and sizes carried them through a rough patch, which could be considered the roughest yet.

Staff Sgt. Christopher Donohue, the Secretary General Staff non-commissioned officer-in-charge of automations from Company A, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, and Staff Sgt. Sarah Donohue, a security operations non-commissioned officer from Company B, STB, 4th Inf. Div., both of whom are Lone Jack, Mo., natives, are not only able to adapt to deploying at the same time, but make sure that together, along with their four children, the Family endures.

"We found out that we were getting deployed and we couldn't find anyone to take all four kids, so we had to split them up," said Christopher.

"(The kids) get to see each other, I don't want to say every week but they spend quite a bit of time together," he said.

While deployment is nothing new in the Donohue household, this is the first time both of the Soldiers in the family have been away from home.

"This is my third deployment to the Middle East, so you kind of get used to it," he said. "We've done the email and phone calls. My (oldest) daughter knows how to use a computer so she'll type stuff up to send us. But with school and all it's usually pretty busy so we usually call on the weekends."

However, it wasn't until this deployment, which happened to be the one when both of the Donohues were away from home, that news arrived Jan. 5, which no parent ever wants to hear.

"My brother lives in rural Missouri. I got an e-mail from my mom asking that I call immediately, which was odd considering it was the middle of the night in Missouri," Sarah said via e-mail. "The message had only been in my in box a few minutes. I'd just returned from lunch. I called home only to be told that there had been a fire."

"My brother Troy, his wife, Tina and their son, Will, had a house fire that destroyed their home. My brother is providing care for two of my four children while Chris and I are deployed," said Sarah.
Not long after the news arrived, Sarah began the journey home.

"I came home on emergency leave to help rebuild the children's lives, their things and to deal with the insurance company who have been great every step of the way," she said.

"The house was a total loss. Troy, Tina, Will and my kids were all at the emergency room. Everyone was 'fine' but I needed to call right away," she added. "The fire started in the bathroom, an electrical fire in the ceiling. My daughter Hannah was woke up by the Family cat, Relic."

"I'm not sure why, maybe she heard a crackling sound or something, but she got up and went to the bathroom, but like any three year old, I guess curiosity just got the best of her, which I'm thankful for," said Christopher.

In the end, everyone was safe and accounted for, but only at the cost of a destroyed home and nearly everything in it, he said.

It wasn't until after the fire, the most unlikely of the victims carried the high spirits on the way to the hospital.

As the ambulance that Tina, Hannah and Emma were in pulled from the gravel road onto the highway, Hannah broke out singing 'The Sun will come out tomorrow'," said Sarah.

"The poor [emergency medical technician], a very large man, was sobbing hearing this child break into song after Tina had just finished telling him how everything happened. Hannah was singing this song from her favorite movie, 'Annie'," she added.

While the incident caused unnecessary stress to an already stressful situation, the Donohues continue to do the best they can to make sure their mission is a success and to ensure their Family is safe.

"This fire has been a huge bump in the road, but they're coming through it with their heads held up. They're all there for each other," Sarah said. "It's that feeling that I can turn my back, do what the Army needs me to do and my family back at home will be fine. I'll call home once a week, twice if I can get through."

In the midst of the events the Donohues had to overcome, the Ironhorse motto – Mission, Soldier, Family, Team – plays a pivotal role in the response the situation received.

"The mission [in Iraq] is hard but we also have the mission of taking care of our family too, so it's really two-fold," said Christopher.

"Everyone here is one big family and we take care of each other, and then there's those back in the rear that help," he added. "As long as everyone does their job, everything gets done. Everyone has a specific role to make sure they're taken care of and take care of us at the same time."

"My chain of command was great. My first sergeant gave me options and told me what to expect. Everyone was very compassionate. He didn't send an email that I could see, but I was told about it. He said, 'Let's do what Bravo Company does best, that's take care of our own'. He'd told everyone about the fire. I left Iraq with over $1,500 to help replace their lost things," Sarah said.

Until the day when deployments are a thing of the past, dual-military marriages will always be subject to more stress than the average marriage, but much like the Donohues and the Ivy Division, family bonds reach out farther than just from parent to child.