No Slack Wives Walk a Day in Husbands' Boots

Photo By Sgt. Richard Daniels Jr. | "No Slack" Soldier's wife of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division tries her hand at one of the weapons systems presented on GI Jane Day at Fort Campbell, Ky., May 1. GI Jane Day helps "No Slack" wives get a better understanding of a Soldiers job.  

FORT CAMPBELL, UNITED STATES

05.01.2009

Story by Spc. Richard Daniels Jr. 

U.S. Army Forces Command

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- "No Slack" wives strapped on their Kevlar and combat boots during 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment's annual GI Jane Day here May 1.

"No Slack" Wives got to spend a day in the life of a Soldier and the chance to learn a little bit about what their spouses do at work, both in garrison and overseas.

"This is a good idea," said Sgt. Rohan Sundar, a mortar systems demonstrator. "The wives can actually figure out, know and get a good feeling of what their husbands do for a living. They can actually understand the day to day training that they do, understand and familiarize themselves with it so they are not lost during their spouse's deployment and back in garrison," he said.

Soldiers, wives and their children went through several stations, learning how Soldiers will operate in the combat zone.

"I think it's a good idea to bring them down and get them acquainted with the weapon systems, some of the different equipment that we work with and some of the operations that we do," said Sgt. Travis Harney, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, communication's section non-commissioned officer. "It eases their mind on what some of the Soldiers are going through when they're deployed," he said. "I think it's just an overall knowledge of what is going on in the Army rather than just sitting there, their husband going to work every day, coming back and not knowing what their actually training for," said Harney.

Despite the rain, "No Slack" Soldiers and their wives shared the Soldier's experience, and learned a little about other spouses that share the same hardship of deployment.

"A lot of times, like in the Family Readies Group meetings, it's more down to business and what we need to know. Events like this gives us time to socialize and get to know each other," said Loren Harney.

After the festivities, Soldiers and their wives enjoyed a barbeque and discussed the events of the day.

"I think there should be a little bit of unit cohesion within the wives and also within some of the Soldiers that are here," said Harney. "The more time we get to spend with our families and help our families grow with other families is only going to make things better on them once we deploy," he said.

• Date Taken: 05.01.2009
• Date Posted: 05.13.2009 11:05
• Story ID: 33561
• Location: FORT CAMPBELL, US