For Better Or Worse - how a dual-military-career couple manages their personal and professional life

All Hands, July, 2001 by Jim Watson

"This duty has been anything but easy," said Katherine, trying to smile, as she navigates her SUV through downtown traffic with three kids in the back laughing and carrying on. She takes a quick look in the rear-view mirror. "Brandon, is he in his seat belt?" referring to her youngest child, Trevor, who has just turned five.

"Yeah, Mom," he quickly replies, before continuing his conversation with Tyler about school and what cool things happened today.

"Our hectic schedules can really hinder a traditional family lifestyle," continues Katherine while still eyeing her children every three or four seconds. "It really takes a strong marriage to be dual military, especially when assigned here at NTC. We make extra time for homework, family outings to the movies or the bowling alley. And sometimes we just like to sit back, relax and just be together."

Those days may be a little hard to come by, but when they do, they are what keeps the family together.

The typical day for an RDC starts at 4 a.m. with reveille and a click of the light switch. With that, a division of up to 94 weary-eyed recruits jumps out of bed, falls in line, then marches off to physical training.

As the recruits shower and prepare their compartment for the morning inspection, Katherine runs back home to wake and dress little Trevor, who often gives her his "it's way to early for this" stare. Before departing once again to take Trevor to the Child Development Center, she wakes up her other two boys and instructs them to get dressed and ready for shool.

With her boys taken care of, she rushes back to the "ship" and sprints through any necessary administrative paperwork. Then she walks through the berthing area to monitor the recruit's progress -- shouting here and there to ensure they are just as awake as she is this early in the morning. Then, she prepares for the rest of the day by looking at the master training schedule.

Once morning cleaning and PT are complete, Katherine must prepare the division for breakfast and march them over to the galley in what tends to be rather harsh weather. Either it's extremely cold with a wind that really bites in the winter, or boiling hot in the summer. There's no real in-between. But she presses on, remembering this is duty both she and Lee wanted.

"It was the first time we ever got the duty we asked for," said Katherine. "Before, we had taken whatever was available because it was the only thing they had for dual families at the time. We thought it was more important to keep the family together, rather than take duty we wanted or thought could really progress our careers. For the first time in 15 years, we actually got to make a choice on where we were going,"

So after their initial duty in Iceland, where they met and were married, they moved on to Okinawa, then Washington, D.C., and from there on to Guam, all of which were not on their lists as choices for prime duty.

"Although many of our duty stations were places we never wanted to go, once we arrived we quickly fell in love with them," said Katherine. "1 think many people are skeptical about their duty at first, but with strong family support, all your duty stations can be great"