He grew up in New York and I grew up in California, but we met in Army flight school in Alabama. We were ‘stick buddies’, meaning two flight students who have the same teacher and learn in the same training helicopter. I never thought I’d marry a fellow soldier…but noticed he was attractive. He invited me to lunch with his buddies and I invited him to a young single adult gathering hosted by my church. There was a spark between us almost immediately that continued to grow into the fires of love!

We both deployed to Iraq soon after our honeymoon. We piloted different helicopters and were in different units, so our work schedules were never coordinated with each other. But, by luck, a mission arose where we were flying at the same time, in the same area, supporting the same central mission! It took all my willpower to not say ‘hi sweetie!’ over our tactical radios. My helicopter team provided security and surveillance to the landing zone where his team was dropping off a VIP.

We have siblings and other family members who are struggling financially. We’re doing pretty well ourselves fortunately, so we would likely donate most or all of the money to these siblings to help make their lives a little easier.