I think one aspect of military life that is quite difficult for my civilian family and friends is the connection we make with our military family. When we move from place to place, endure deployments, training and school separations, the stress of the lifestyle, etc. it becomes so easy to become super quick and close friends with the women who surround you. More than likely, it is the "misery loves company" idea. We are all in the same boat, we all understand the same struggles, we all know the joy of "making the list" and the fact that I don't have to explain what that even means to my military friends is probably why we become close. We understand each other. Women who you would never meet and might not be friends with in other circumstances become besties in this life because, well, I guess I don't really know why except that the military is a different beast and we are all dragon-slaying together.
Women, families you haven't even met share a connection simply by nature of career choices and luck of the draw of duty stations. Everytime we PCS (Permanent Change of Station; ie. when we move) I can bet my bottom dollar that a friend of mine has a friend already there that I can connect with and voila....instant bond.
Many people have already heard the story of Jenna Hinman. She is a wife of a sergeant in 3rd Brigade (Ben's Brigade). While I don't know Jenna personally and have never met her before, my neighbor behind me and one of my friends in Ben's Company are her very dear friends here at Fort Drum. It was right after the birth of her premature twin girls at 30-weeks that I got the devastating call from Caiti (the wife in our Company) asking me for advice in what the Army, or more specifically, the Family Readiness Group can do for this new mother who was found to have stage-3 cancer just hours post-partum. Talk about a punch in the stomach. Jenna's story, very literally, took my breath away like someone had knocked the wind right out of me. Tears upon tears fell for this new, beautiful, young mother who is now in a medically induced coma to help her body fight this pregnancy-onset cancer. She was rushed to Crouse Hospital in Syracuse after her delivery, which is wonderful for her husband who is shifting between floors of Crouse to also visit his baby girls in the NICU while he stays nights at the Ronald McDonald House.
This isn't a call for help, although if you feel like it is on your heart they can use your prayers and there is also a fundraiser set up to help cover some of their expenses. (While we do have pretty good medical coverage, there is a catastrophic cap, but I am not sure the details of this particular situation.) No, I am not asking for you to do anything.....but pray for Jenna, her girls and her husband
As a mother, I am devastated by the situation. The simple act of of getting pregnant and wanting to have a family is what caused her cancer. It could have happened to any one of us that wanted the joy of children. As a military spouse, it also have another level of connection. It makes her situation more real for me; not just a story you read about on Facebook. Praise the Lord her husband didn't deploy with the rest of 3rd Brigade, presumably because she was pregnant with twins. But he was able to be there with her. I can't imagine the horror of sitting on a plane from Afghanistan and just sitting and chewing on the news of what has happened to your wife and newborn daughters.
Hug your babies a little tighter tonight and please lift a prayer for this family of ours.
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