Husband, wife team deploy together

Photo By Staff Sgt. Patrick Caldwell | Sgt. Rebekah Hussey, a member of Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command stands in the D Company supply room at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq. Hussey and her husband Paul both deployed to Iraq as part of D Company.  

JOINT BASE BALAD, IRAQ

08.09.2011

Story by Staff Sgt. Patrick Caldwell 

77th Sustainment Brigade

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – There are some experiences Sgt. Rebekah Hussey knows she will never be able to relive in her children’s lives.

Hussey, a non-commissioned officer assigned to Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, knows she will never get back the missed birthdays. She knows she will not get back the days when one of her children scraped a knee and sought solace. She will never regain the wonder of the first day of school for one of her children.

She knows those things are gone forever. Hussey understands better than most young mothers what the word sacrifice really means. For her it is not an abstract word with meaningless connotations.

Hussey and her husband Paul, both residents of La Grande, Ore., were forced to give up a lot when they deployed to Iraq last year, but the biggest element they were compelled to forfeit was 12 months away from their three children.

“You miss a lot of things,” Rebekah said. “Helping them with bad grades when they think they are the only ones failing at something. There is no little thing to explain the hard part.”

Rebekah and her husband are both stationed at Contingency Operating Base Speicher in central Iraq. From the base, D Company escorts logistics convoys across the central and northern portion of the country. Paul works as a mechanic for D Company, while Rebekah holds down duties in the company supply section.

While the deployment furnished Rebekah with the challenges of sacrifice, the one-year tour also reinforced her concept of fulfilling an obligation. She never wanted to leave her children. She said she understood, though, that committing to serve of one’s country is the highest commitment.

“When you sign on, you assume the responsibility for at least one deployment,” Rebekah said.

She said her separation from her children was made a little more tolerable because Paul’s mom and dad stepped up to take care of them during the deployment.

“I love my husband with all my heart. I respect his morals, his ethics. Well, who raised him? His parents. Who has our kids? His parents. Who better to take care of our children while we are gone?” Rebekah said.

Rebekah said the detachment from her children is a constant pain, something she can’t eradicate but must endure. She said the ability to see her children during her leave was critical.

“When we came home on leave, it was as if we never left. My youngest wrapped her arms around my legs,” she said.

Like many people, Rebekah can trace her military experience back to a single day: 9/11.

That September morning, she found out about the deadly terrorist attacks while working at an Elgin, Ore., hardware store.

“I was looking out the big picture window at the hardware store. The radio station went dead. There was no one on the street. I turned around and there was no one in the store,” she said.

Rebekah walked to the back of the store where she found her co-workers huddled around a tiny television. Just then, she said, the little group parted and she saw the destruction splashed across the TV screen.

“It was like a 'Die Hard' movie,” she said.

Shortly after 9/11, Rebekah said she decided to join the military. She first looked at the U.S. Navy but said she finally decided to join the Oregon Army National Guard. Her father was in the National Guard, she said, so the decision was an easy one.

Rebekah said she was glad she was able to deploy with her husband.

“We get along like best friends,” she said.

Rebekah, who holds three different Military Occupational Specialties, said when it comes to interaction with her husband within D Company, it is all business.

“It is extremely serious for us. If I didn’t have a professional bearing and if he didn’t, we couldn’t be in the same company,” she said.

While they may share the same housing unit, Rebekah said she does not see her husband a lot.

“He works nights, I work days,” she said.

Rebekah is looking forward to wrapping up her year-long deployment and will probably go back to college upon returning home, she said.

She will do another important job as well, she said: be a stay-at-home mom.

• Date Taken: 08.09.2011
• Date Posted: 08.14.2011 07:37
• Story ID: 75323
• Location: JOINT BASE BALAD, IQ