Jessica's Story

02/2005

My husband and I had been dating about two months when he decided to apply for the USBP in February/March 2003. At first, I didn't think too much about it because we hadn't known each other for very long and personally, I'd never officially heard of the USBP until he mentioned it. As time progressed and he and I became more serious, it became more of an issue. My husband and I both grew up in California. He had always dreamed of living in the "Old West" and I wasn't particularly thrilled about moving thousands of miles away from family and friends and a tremendous pay cut.

Every time my husband would mention something about the BP (medical exams, etc.) I would cringe. We even had a few arguments about what localities he would accept if offered. Needless to say, the day of his oral boards came. He asked me to go with him and I did. It was a wake up call for me because reality was finally starting to hit me. I sat there with the other applicants and their spouses while the interviewers were discussing how much our lives were about to change. I remember when I found out that the Academy was over 4 months long and about 3000 miles away, I cried! This was the first man that I had actually fell in love with and knowing that we were going to be apart for that long someday really bothered me. That day was October 9,2003.

As you can figure, my husband passed the oral boards with flying colors and his BI contacted him within a couple of weeks to schedule his Background check and so forth. Again, although things were moving along rather quickly, I never thought much about it. When I did though, I was scared, very scared to make this "change" in my life and the knowledge of the dangers of this job. My husband received his 60 day letter late December 2003 and from there, we hadn't anticipated much more happening so we continued to live our lives as if the BP never existed.

January 25, 2004 was one of the scariest days of my life. My husband and I were visiting friends one Sunday evening when my husband received a call from his mom on his cell phone. Dan had called and wanted my husband to call back. My husband did so and initially, accepted Douglas station. My heart sunk into my stomach. I was overwhelmed with grief because reality had FINALLY settled in. We both laid in bed that night awake with a lot to think about. We didn't talk much either for the next couple of days because every time the subject came up, I would get upset. Family circumstances came up the following day (My mother in-law was having major surgery during his original EOD date) and my husband called Dan back to see if he could get into a later academy. After submitting the proper paperwork to prove the family emergency, my husband was granted a change and was offered Willcox station with an EOD date of February 23, 2004.

The one month between "The Call" and when he EOD'd went by very fast. He had a lot of arrangements to take care of and I helped as much as I could. I had started to accept the fact that this indeed was happening and that my life was about to drastically change within the next 4 months. My husband flew to Tucson on the 22nd of February. When I got home, I just remember feeling "empty" inside, almost like I didn't know what to do anymore. He flew off to Charleston within the following days and would call me constantly everyday after class.

The end of March was particularly hard because my husband had started to change. At the time, we were still just boyfriend and girlfriend and he (we) had decided during this time to not see each other anymore. Basically, he had succumbed to the stresses of the Academy and his future in Arizona. He tells me now that he was afraid that I wouldn't be happy in Arizona and therefore, we wouldn't be happy together. He felt that he could not give me the attention that I would need. The next three months we spent apart not talking or communicating in anyway. I had the support of his family regardless and I continued on living my life as he did his. It wasn't until the beginning of June that I would hear from him again.

My husband had broke his toe six weeks away from graduating class 580 and was sent to Willcox for light duty. The week that my husband spent by himself here in Arizona was his wake up call. About two weeks after being sent home, he was notified that he had 24 hours to report back to Charleston to start over in a new class. He called me on his way to the airport and the rest is history from there!

I visited my husband two times before his graduation in October, 2004 while I was there, I was as proud as I could be. We had settled our differences and our relationship had taken on a whole new level. We had realized that our love was very strong for each other. Each time I left Charleston, I felt that empty feeling again. We both shared tears but I knew this time, he was going to make it and that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. He graduated from class 582 on October 19, 2004 and I could not have been any prouder of him than that day.

My husband had made arrangements to work his first shift on November 1, 2004. During his second stay in Charleston, I had made the arrangements for housing and a job for myself in Tucson. Everything went according to plans and on October 24, 2004, we started on our new journey and life. We left Northern California in the early morning hours after saying goodbye to our family and dearest friends to set out for Southeastern Arizona.

We arrived in Benson, Arizona the following day and moved in to our new home. Within a couple of weeks, my parents drove down from Northern California and decided to buy a house nearby. On November 16, 2004, my husband and I got married at the local courthouse with the Bailiffs as our witnesses and I had managed to get a job closer to home. My parents moved down three days before Christmas and this helped settle us in.

Basically, our life has changed drastically within the past year. Next month (February 23, 2005) will be the one year mark of my husbands EOD. I remember it like it was last week. We have been through a lot together because of the BP and I am thankful for the experience. If he hadn't applied and accepted this job, I don't think that him and I would be together today. He had a lot of "growing up" to do and thanks to the BP and his classmates, he did just that. He learned that he is a good person and that he can do just about anything. He changed for the better and I changed for the better as well. We were forced to rely on only each other for the first couple of months and that has proven to have made our relationship unbreakable. I love Arizona and my husband very much and I am pleased that my parents have moved here as well. I don't miss California as much as I thought that I would and I have new friends to share laughs with. We are planning on buying a home here in the area so that we can one day extend our family and live happily. I worry about my husband everyday that he works, but I feel secure enough with the thought that he is doing something that makes him happy which in turn, makes me happy.

Jessica