Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
undefined
undefined

Army Wives Prayer

Dear Lord,

Give me the greatness of heart to see, the difference

between duty and his love for me.

Give me the understanding that I may know,

when duty calls him he must go.

Give me a task to do each day, to fill the time

when he is away.

And Lord, when he is in a foreign land, keep him

safe in your hand.

And Lord, when duty is in the field, please

protect him and be his shield.

And Lord, when deployment is so long, please

stay with me and keep me strong.

Amen






The Silent Ranks

I wear no uniforms, no blues or army greens.

But I am in the military in the ranks rarely seen.

I have no rank upon my shoulders. Salutes I do not give.

But the military world is the place where I live.

I'm not in the chain of command, orders I do not get.

But my husband is the one who does, this I cannot forget.

I'm not the one who fires the weapon, who puts my life on the line.

But my job is just as tough. I'm the one that's left behind.

My husband is a patriot, a brave and prideful man

and the call to serve his country, not all can understand.

Behind the lines I see the things needed to keep this country free.

My husband makes the sacrifice, but so do our kids and me.

I love the man I married. Soldiering is his life.

But I stand among the silent ranks

known as the Military Wife





The Army Wives Seal




The eagle at the top of the circle represents the Army

Wife, who in protecting her nest, also protects the flag

and the future it represents. Alert and poised, she is

ready to defend either when the need arises.

As the ultimate goal of her husband's profession is peace,

so it is hers. The olive branch held by the eagle

represents this peace; her hope for an end to wars for

her husband and her children.

The lyre, symbol of harmony, gentility and romance,

surrounds the four phases of her life that she holds dear.

~The cradle represents her children,

her Mother - her own Motherhood.

~The sheaf of wheat represents the staples and

stability she provides for her family - her duty.

~The grapes represent the social life, the wine, fun,

sense of humor - her lighter side.

~The open book represents her individuality and

personal self-fulfillment thru knowledge and

wisdom. The person she is and becomes - her

personal self.

The double circle enclosing all is her wedding band,

symbol of eternity and never ending love. This circle is

broken only by the eagle, here a symbol of her duty to

country. For the Army Wife, the break in the circle

represents the many separations and the possible

ultimate sacrifice

Ida True Terry - 1976





The Army wife is a special individual. When she was a girl, her

dreams were bold, as bold as her fine, free gaze; And every gift

of grace and mind was hers in her younger days. When she was

a girl, a golden girl, with a soul as fine as fire. She could

outshine the brightest jewel that a rich man's love might buy her.

Yes hers could have been the glittering path through a careless,

carefree life. But she fell in love with a Soldier, so she became a

military wife.

Away from the home of her childhood she marched at her

husband's side, For she chose a wide and winding road when

she became a bride. And somtimes the road was a hard one, so

different from what she had planned; And sometimes she wept

for the home she had left as she lay in a foreign land; And

sometimes her steps would grow weary as she followed the

drum and the fife; But she set about making the world her home

because she was a military wife.

She learned to build a hearth for them wherever her man was

sent; And she knelt to plant a garden every time he pitched their

tent. Yes, she always planted a garden though she never saw it

grow, For she knew before the flowers came that she would

have to go. But she left each garden gladly though it cut her like

a knife, For she hoped it might bring some comfort to another

military wife

To the hardships in her married life she brought one simple truth,

A promise that once was spoken in the ancient words of Ruth:

"Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God."

She shared his joys and sorrows as they made their way through

life, For she was proud to love a Soldier and to be a military wife.

She bore the weight of worrying what fate might hold in store;

And the wordless fear of waiting when her soldier went to war;

And the nights that she spent fearing that her waiting was in vain;

And the pain of wanting someone she might never hold again.

But she bore his children gladly through uncertainty and strife,

And they never heard her crying for she was a military wife.

She raised a military family with the faith her love had taught her;

And she gave the pride she had inside to her son and to her

daughter; And she taught them to love freedom and to know

what it was worth, As they helped her plant her gardens in the

corners of the earth. And she never wished for better than the

road they marched through life, Because she was as much a

Soldier as she was a military wife.

Adapted from a poem by Caroline Franklin Berry