Phyllis Zimbler and Mitchell Miller at the Coronation Ball at Michigan State University on Saturday, November 18, 1967, sponsored by the Cadet Officers Club and the Arnold Air Society.
The U.S. Army as a Foreign Culture
Guest Post by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
In the comments to her review of MRS. LIEUTENANT, Dawn wrote this:
I enjoyed the novel because it allowed me to “experience” three things I haven’t in my life:
1. being an adult aware of the repercussions of the war in Vietnam (so I drew parallels to my own experience with the effects of the current situation in Iraq)
2. being in or involved with an active member of the military
3. moving into a culture so foreign from what I am used to, and having to figure out how far I was willing to adapt
As Dawn graciously offered me the opportunity to write a follow-up guest post to her review of the book, I wanted to talk about moving into a foreign culture:
Just as I began to write this post something that happened 28 years ago flashed through my mind. My husband and I were moving from Philadelphia to Los Angeles because we wanted to live in LA even though we had no friends or family there. A friend in Philadelphia said: “How can you leave all your friends here and start over trying to make new friends?”
Our reply: “We have already lived through an active-duty army experience, so we know we can make friends anywhere.” My husband and I were no longer afraid to move someplace new.
Women and men who have never served in the military or have been a military spouse may have a hard time understanding that – regardless what you think of a current war being fought – if you are in the military (or a military spouse), the people who serve alongside you are your family.
Early in MRS. LIEUTENANT, Kim and Jim Benton visit the quarters of a captain and his wife. Jim asks a question of the captain about Officers Candidate School (OCS) and this is what the captain replies:
“I’m talking about my buddies. In OCS – OCS is hell on wheels, 120 days of pure hell – you can’t survive if you can’t trust your buddies and they can’t trust you. There’s a motto – ‘Cooperate and graduate.’”
And that’s what I learned as a new officer’s wife in the spring of 1970. Everyone is in the same boat. You might as well extend a helping hand because someday you may need that helping hand in return. In addition, you might as well try to work within the system so that your life is easier rather than harder – although you can push the envelope somewhat as Sharon does in MRS. LIEUTENANT with the skit she writes for an official function.
Lifetime TV’s series ARMY WIVES portrays this bonding friendship between the wives of officers and the wives of enlisted men. This was not true in 1970 – the wives of officers and enlisted men did not mix – although I understand this class separation has been easing nowadays in the military. (If you would like to know more about current army life, read Tanya Biank’s non-fiction book ARMY WIVES that is the basis of the television series.)
And if you’d like to show support for military families today (or deployed soldiers), check out my website at www.mrslieutenant.com to find out how you can help.
(note from Dawn: Many thanks to Lisa at Books on the Brain and Dorothy at Pump Up Your Book Promotion for introducing me to Phyllis. ** Check back on Tuesday June 24 for an announcement about a contest for a copy of Mrs. Lieutenant! **)
Thank you, Phyllis, for providing more insight into the lives of military wives. This is a subject that deserves more attention. I think military wives are the unsung heroes – heroines? – of our day. After all, they make the greatest sacrifice of all – they let their husbands serve their country, do their duty, and keep everything in check for them here, for when they return, or preserve the memory of them for their children if they don’t. They are incredible women and I can’t thank them enough for their sacrifice for our country.
Phyllis, great post! And Dawn, thanks for the mention.
[...] 24, 2008 by Dawn Have you read the guest post by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, author of Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel? In the post, Phyllis describes the military as a [...]
[...] Zimbler Miller, author of the woman’s fiction novel, Mrs. Lieutenant, will be stopping off at She is Too Fond of Books and The Literate Housewife! In the spring of 1970 – right after the Kent State National Guard [...]
Margay –
Very well said.
Lisa –
Glad you liked the post.