P.S. I Love You: Military Love Stories

Carly and Chuck, Navy I met my husband at a mutual friend's birthday party about five years ago, which happened to be his first night home for two weeks of R&R from a one-year deployment to Afghanistan. Our friends had ordered us not to talk to each other because we were so wrong for each other: he had a bad boy reputation and I was a classic good girl. Of course we didn't listen and spent as much time together as possible over that two week period before he had to leave to finish the final two months of his tour overseas. We talked almost every night while he was gone and developed a very strong foundation for our relationship. He became my best friend and we said "I love you" very early on. When I finally picked him up from the airport in April we were absolutely inseparable. We were engaged that following New Year's Eve and married a year after that. In our short time together we have been through two submarine deployments, an overseas move to Hawaii for 3.5 years, a recent overseas move back to the east coast, and have expanded our family to include our beautiful seven-month old son. As challenging as military life can be I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed! Read Next: Kat and Mike, National Guard Kat and Mike, National Guard I wish I could give you some cute romantic story on how we met, but I can’t. Not because it wouldn't be cute, or it wouldn't be romantic, but because neither one of us remember! As far as we can figure, we met in 8 th grade--- he signed my yearbook, after all! He’s been my best friend since were 16, and has stayed that way for thirteen years. He was there when I had other boyfriends, and I was there when he dated other girls. We didn't start dating until college: I went to school in Connecticut, and he attended Virginia Tech, At the time, we were 9 hours away from each other. Somewhere along there we developed from more than ‘just friends’ and started dating. We said ‘I love you’ on the second date and the rest is history. Looking back, I guess it was always him! Read Next: Liz and Brian, Marine Corps Liz and Brian, Marine Corps Our love story began in 1999. We were in high school, but our love was tested from 2012-2013. For me love looks like: 5 deployments, 4 PCS's, a two week mental health hospitalization with him by my side, 19 days of him being in a coma, his 3 month hospitalization, and many sleepless nights. I took the vows “’til death do us part,” but I never knew the extent of our love until death almost did us part. Read Next: MJ and Christopher, Marine Corps MJ and Christopher, Marine Corps This one time, at band camp…I started dating my husband! It was 1997 and he was the Senior Drum Major of our high school marching band. He was (and very much still IS) the “eye candy” in our band geek world. Most of us despised him during camp because busted our chops and worked our TAILS off on the field; but nearly every girl there wanted him. The evening of our annual band camp dance was when he stole my heart. I went back to our cabin that night and carved our initials on one of the walls. Who knew that our love of music (coupled with his love of discipline) would one day lead us into this amazing Marine Corps lifestyle? We’re both still band geeks at heart, and I am SO proud to be married to one of the finest military musicians around! Read Next: Tricia and Jeff, Navy Tricia and Jeff, Navy There I was: twenty-four, single and attending the third wedding in just as many weeks. I was going to see another friend walk down the aisle with her high school sweetheart. When I arrived at the church, a handsome usher escorted me and his hazel eyes and tall stature made him hard to ignore. I couldn't take my eyes off him for most of the ceremony. At the reception, we chatted about this and that and he told me he was living in Portsmouth, VA and serving in the Navy. I immediately thought to myself, he lives three hours away-- I’m never going to see him again. The next evening while I was working, I got a phone call from “Jeff” thinking it was my cousin I picked up the phone with and snarkily said “Hello”. The voice on the other end was not my cousin but the man I met at a wedding and that I have loved for the past fourteen years of my life. Let's Be Friends

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