Photo By Maj. David Olson | Majors Dennis and Lesley Ortiz are reunited at Victory Base Complex, April 30, 2008,...... read more read more
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By Maj. Dave Olson
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – Two Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers are the logistics staff officers for their respective Brigade Combat Teams. While they serve their country in different locations, they have had the honor and privilege of working together as a team during the last ten years.
Majors Lesley and Dennis Ortiz, assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, currently deployed in support of MND – B and Operation Iraqi Freedom, developed and fostered a loving relationship, while simultaneously serving parallel military careers by working together and communicating effectively. Lesley, assigned to the 1st "Raider" Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div., in February 2008, deployed to Baghdad in March, and Dennis joined the 3rd "Striker" BCT, 4th Inf. Div., May 2008 at Forward Operating Base War Eagle, Iraq.
The Ortiz family began a parallel career track from the beginning.
They signed contracts to join the Reserve Officer Training Corps program on the same day during their junior years at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga., where he majored in mathematics and she studied English and education, Lesley said.
"I met him at a football game, and we became inseparable," she said.
The ROTC cadets alternated as ushers and color guards at the football games she added.
The pair graduated and received their commissions as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army and attended their Officers Basic Courses in 1997.
Lesley entered the Transportation Corps and attended her course at Fort Eustis, Va., while Dennis traveled to Fort Lee, Va., to complete his quartermaster officer course.
Arriving at Fort Bragg, N.C., their careers continued to parallel each other at their first duty assignments.
The Army assigned them to the same brigade, but they served in different battalions, said Dennis, who hails from Augusta, Ga.
"We were platoon leaders, executive officers, battalion staff officers and company commanders at the same time," Lesley said.
During this time, the couple continued to communicate and their relationship blossomed and grew stronger, explained Lesley, an Atlanta native. They made it official by getting married, May 29, 1999.
"Being with another person in the military, we both had a common understanding how things went, and with not rushing into starting a family, we were able to adjust [to deployments] a lot easier in the early years," she said.
Lesley said the deployments made her realize that during their marriage, they were going to have to focus on balancing their time apart.
They both realized there may come a time when they, as a military couple, would be separated due to their careers and, as a result, would have to work through the challenges, she explained.
At that moment, Lesley and Dennis stopped everything to map out a 10-year plan, she explained.
In the time that followed, they attended the Combined Logistics Captains Career Course at Fort Lee, Va., and the Combined Armed Services Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., together in 2001.
When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that same year, the military couple's relationship forever changed.
Dennis and Lesley were roommates during the CAS3 course. They were on lock down due to the attacks and even after completing their schooling could not leave the post for several days.
Lesley, who is a third-generation Soldier, explained that the way the U.S. military does business has changed because the U.S. Army is at war.
Busier than ever with the new challenges of deploying to war, the couple focused on how they were going to manage their lives and work together as a team.
Lesley and Dennis said they love to plan, so they both adjusted their original 10-year plans, she explained.
Those plans brought them to Fort Hood, Texas.
Dennis deployed as the company commander of a forward support company with the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 near Tikrit.
Lesley commanded the 297th Cargo Transfer Company, 180th Transportation Battalion, 64th Corps Support Group, 13th Corps Support Command. Her company deployed simultaneously to Cuba, Iraq and Kuwait, and her teams covered operations at 12 different logistical bases in Kuwait and Iraq during OIF1. During the next deployment, she pushed two platoons to Iraq in December 2004 and one platoon to Afghanistan in 2005.
After three years at Fort Hood, both received orders for Third Army at Fort McPherson, Ga., where they worked in the logistics section of the same headquarters.
"We worked together as a team, and it worked out very, very well," she remarked.
Then one day, Lesley and Dennis' lives would again be forever changed – this time when their son, Dennis, Jr., was born in May 2007.
The baby, who started walking since Lesley and Dennis deployed, caused the military couple to review their plans and yet again and make changes.
Lesley's Mother, Wilma Sims, takes good care of Dennis Jr., while they serve their country in Iraq. It is the first time, she said, that she has ever had to rely solely on her parents, but her mother is doing a great job providing for her only grandson.
"I understand love in a different way than the way I did before," she explained. "I understand loving my parents, loving my spouse; but the love for a child – it's unconditional; it's awesome! It inspires you to go above and beyond anything you ever expected."
Dennis said that he also looks forward to redeploying, returning to family, his son and home at Fort Hood, especially since he deployed with the 4th Inf. Div. nearly five months before Lesley.
"We have a 14-month-old boy, and I have been deployed for nine months, so I miss my son and haven't had a lot of time to be with him," Dennis explained.
Dennis returned to the 4th Inf. Div. in March 2007, and Lesley reported to the 4th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) in July 2007.
Dennis deployed to Iraq with the division logistics section in October as the liaison officer to 1st Cavalry Division.; Lesley transferred to 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., and deployed to Iraq as the brigade's logistics officer in March.
He admitted that as both officers develop in their careers, it will be harder to continue to be stationed together.
"So far, the Army has been good at keeping us together," he explained. "Even with this deployment, we were both in [Iraq] within a few months of each other and will redeploy back to the States within a few months of each other."
"This has been a tough deployment," Lesley said. "Leaving my baby was the hardest thing I did for this deployment. This has been one of our toughest years in the military – one of the toughest years period."
Both love to travel, said Dennis, and the couple has traveled to several renowned spots, from Paris to New York, where they took the opportunity to be tourists, eat out, catch a show, sporting events and theater.
They also love to cook together, added Lesley, who calls her husband her best friend.
"The only time we fight is over the kitchen," she joked.
He makes the best lasagna, she said, and while she cooks the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, he cooks a Latin-style Christmas dinner with roasted pork and pastilles smeared with yucca paste wrapped in banana leaves.
"We are planning our next 10 years," she added. "We're looking at retirement homes. We're looking where we want to retire."
Lesley said she encourages military couples to work at their relationship as a team and constantly looks for the little thing she can do today to make her marriage stronger.
Lesley said that she believes that if today's military couples don't have friendship established first, there are going to be difficulties in both their relationship and their military careers.
"Everyone knows that marriage is a big commitment," she said. "No matter how big you think it is, it's bigger than that."
| Date Taken: | 08.21.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 08.21.2008 07:18 |
| Story ID: | 22723 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 272 |
| Downloads: | 250 |
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