European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Continued from Page 13 asked not to be identified. He s the will be least or most affected by it. If he s comfortable with it it in t any of anyone else s business. I Don t care who the next up is five or six in the pamphlet a practical survival guide for the air Force officer s spouse the other half maj. Bonnee Erickson wrote that while incidents of a wife s activities affecting her husband s career should t happen they sometimes do. While there is no place in the officer effectiveness report for evaluation of the wife objectivity May be an unrealistic Assumption Erickson wrote. Senior officers wives May be affected even More because of greater expectations placed upon them. Although Erickson s 5-year-old air University publication holds a disclaimer severing it from any perceived official ties the air Force directed that it be removed from air Force libraries after announcing its spouse policy. To work or not to work was never an Issue for kit Lupinski of Torrejon a Spain. I Don t think anybody As far As i be seen in the air Force has been forced to do anything they did t want to said Lupinski who works and is the local wives club president. But i m Only a Captain s wife so i Don t know. When it comes up to colonel and lieutenant colonel i have heard of cases when they did t want the wives to Back when Shirley Lewis husband a Navy commander was an Ensign a Captain s wife told her officers wives Don t work but that was the Only time she heard such a sentiment. Lewis of Naples Italy who holds a master s degree in Library science went on to work throughout her husband s 19 Navy years without difficulty. Thirty years ago when bibs Reynard s brigadier general husband was a lieutenant few women worked regardless of whether they were part of the military or private sectors. In my College Days a woman with a master s degree probably had her name on the front Page of a textbook Reynard of Frankfurt said. We Are looking at a very big change in although qualified to teach preschool Reynard chose not to work full time but not because of pressure to stay Home. She held a few positions that gave her a paycheck but she always sought to give equal time to the Community. One time for example Reynard taught in a Community head Start program every morning and hustled to work for the wives club in the afternoon. And i loved it she said. For Joyce Fields any struggles she experienced were those common to any dual career marriage. Frequent moves represent one such struggle. Sometimes wives strike deals with their husbands As did Fields. They say ill follow you and your career 20 years and then you follow this gives them a turn for uninterrupted career progression. Other women will stay behind for a tour. Before their assignment in Naples Italy Lewis and her husband split for a year so she could retain her Job and her position As president of a state wide professional organization. A military spouse s career is undeniably one of stops and starts. At a course for battalion commanders wives in Vilseck West Germany last summer women tallied their total moves during their husbands army careers. Heading the list was one of the course instructors with 34 moves in 26 years and a student with 23 in 18 years. Is Steve Morrison 2 the fewest moves were recorded by two students one with nine moves in 18 years and another with six moves in 13 years. You do wind up having Breaks in service said Joan o Rourke Schweinfurt s director of resource management. At some Point you probably do reach a level where you cannot Progress in your career at that Point some officers bail out for the Sake of their wives careers. Lupinski said she encountered such a couple. The wife a certified Public accountant planned to quit her Job if her husband made lieutenant colonel. But in this Case the officer gave up his career to save his wife s. During a tour at Dyess fab Texas $1,200-a-month House payments thrust Mary Shields into the work Force. Officers wives clubs often sponsor luncheons. Above and left Are scenes of a function of the Heidelberg officers and civilians women s club. Some of the members performed for the group. I did go to our Wing commander s wife and talked to her and said Linda i just want you to know that i m going to go to work. I Hope this does t cause a problem.1 " Shields now a senior officer s wife at Rhein main a West Germany said she Felt a personal responsibility to talk to the Wing commander s wife since she would be giving up a Board member position on the wives club. Although Shields admits to having been nervous about approaching the commander s wife she knew she would work whether or not she received the woman s blessings. The woman said you do whatever you want Kathy Pardew formerly of bad Kreuz Nach West Germany said she works because she and her colonel husband have very expensive children who go to very expensive we Don t have any Choice but i Don t think i should have to make excuses to anybody about Why i work Pardew said. Expectations placed on an officer s wife Don t differ much from those of a corporate executive s wife said Carolyn Stevens a Squadron commander s wife and full time teacher at the american High school in Frankfurt West Germany. Sometimes they corporate executives have Bosses who feel As if their wives should not be working their wives should be doing coffees Etc. Those things happen regretfully they do Stevens said. It s not 100 percent across the Board where you come into Contact with Wing commanders base commanders or whoever Squadron commanders that come Down and say no wives should work if their husbands Are majors and above.1 " whether or not they encounter bad Apple commanders senior officers wives in Europe say certain obligations do accompany their husbands ranks. And they think twice before saying no thank you to those obligations. Some Lead Coffee groups or wives clubs play Mother Hen for Young enlisted wives Volunteer recruit volunteers or Host or accompany their husbands to a Long list of social functions. You can run yourself ragged As a commander s wife said Reynard. The people who work the very hardest in my opinion Are the battalion and brigade commanders wives. I Don t know How the Community would Ever function without their willingness to answer even an unwritten and according to Lucille Rodgers wife of a Darmstadt West Germany battalion commander few senior officers wives do refuse the unofficial duties. The unit suffers tremendously if that happens Rodgers said. An army officer could even be refused his overseas command if his wife refuses to accompany him on the tour which sometimes happens when the wife is asked to leave College age children behind in the United states Pardew said. Fields called the army a bit ahead of its time in saying you can do what you want to do,1 to the the army is hands off we Are not going to direct wives because we re getting burned doing that but there Are built in expectations and to pretend that there Aren t is real a battalion commander s wife can choose not to fulfil the role expected of her by virtue of her husband s rank if her husband endorses it said Linda Evans wife of a major formerly stationed in Frankfurt. Shell meet some ruffling and Back talk among the wives and husbands then it the accompanying jobs Falls to the executive officer s wife. And if the to happens to be single heaven forbid it keeps falling until they can find someone who would be willing to do handing Down of responsibility also occurs among Navy wives said Alex Mulkern wife of a Navy commander in Naples. As a commanding officer s wife you do have an obligation to the other women Mulkern said. You do have a responsibility to make sure that any problems the wife May be having you help her Ann Christopher an Aschaffenbur West Germany battalion commander s wife said that while she did t have to she chose to take on the duties because it s something that i be worked for for 19 years along with my Rodgers said she does t find her responsibilities As a battalion commander s wife burdensome. There s a policy now that it s optional for what the wife contributes to the career but most of us Are of the generation where i think your relationships Are different than say a lieutenant and his wife. This will always be Rudgers said. It s a measurement of the depth of your love. Of what you put yourself through for Rodgers is not alone in her enjoyment of helping others. Mulkern who is president of the Allied officers wives club in Naples said it makes her feel nobody is sitting around saying in my situation your husband is such and such and you have to do this " i Mccombs whose husband is a major at bad Kreuz Nach said the Bottom line is to take care of the family and keep your end of the marriage contract going. As an officer s wife you have a Little bit of obligation too. If you know that in your husband s troops there s somebody who s having an illness in the family you either help out or you spread the word so everybody can pitch in. That s part of the Deal i Rhein main a officer s wife Mary Shields said she does Volunteer work not to further her husband s career but because she feels it s time for her to pay Back for All the Volunteer services she received As a Young air Force wife. Likewise Lewis invites sailors Home from the ships and participates in activities not because it s mandated but because she s thankful that volunteers were there when her husband was on the receiving end. Volunteer activities Are worthwhile Only if they re worthwhile to the person said a brigade officer s wife. If you re doing them because a the commander s wife is big on this which i be heard a lot or b my husband will be promoted ahead of his contemporaries or will receive a better position within his unit because of this you re kidding yourself. You re losing Confidence in your Mary Stephenson wife of a senior officer in bad Kreuz Nach looks at her role pragmatically. If his career depended on me he d be Down the tubes she said. Ill do what i need to do what i feel like doing and what i can do that will fit the Community but i Don t do things just for contributing to this report staff writer Wendy Bourland in Darmstadt West Germany Page 14 the stars and stripes hats played an important role in the fashion scene at this wives club function in 1968. The View from the top file photo by Ron Jensen staff writer ack when an officer husband s accoutrement of rank decorated his wife As Well a commander would frown upon the absence of an officer s wife from a social function of the unit. Now commanders know that those roles have changed just As surely As the weapon systems. We have accepted without penalty for the officer that the spouse May have professional commitments that prevent her from attending says col. Billy r. Gamble commander of the 1836th engr installation group in Wiesbaden West Germany. Before the commander would expect that spouse to be present. The expectation has lessened but Gamble is not ready to let the wife off the Hook entirely. He still sees a link Between the wedding vows and the military oath. I think the role of the officer s wife is somewhat attendant to that of the officer husband he says. We Are thrust into positions of leadership and some of that accrues to the despite that he says the Day is past when a wife accepted a strict role defined by her husband s rank. More often the wife has forged her own role away from the military. We must recognize that we have a military spouse population that we did t have a few years ago Gamble says. Most of us officers have wives who Are also he says he recently heard two military wives talking. One had been around the service for 20 years. The other was much younger. The older one said you really Don t know How bad it was " Gamble says. Capt. Karen w. Currie commander of the 7100th Supply squad in Wiesbaden says her Mother was the wife of an air Force officer in the old Days stationed in Europe. When she first got Here she had to go around and leave calling cards at the Homes of the officers that he worked for she says. Things were much More formal then. They had to Wear hats and White Currie says such expectations Are impossible now. Now so Many spouses have their own careers and aspirations there just in t that emphasis she says. You Don t need your spouse to make you successful. You have to do it on your own but with the new Rolea come new problems. The spouse of a military member is going to have to make his or her career goals flexible and they re always going to take second place Currie says. If the officer s assignment changes the wife must change with him. To do otherwise risks the marriage or the military career. A successful military career does require the support of an understanding spouse Currie says. As More and More wives Lead lives away from the base and its ongoing functions More pressure is put on those who remain to fill the traditional Volunteer roles. What we be got inside the army is a shrinking Pool of Volunteer wives says col. Robert Magruder a division artillery commander with the 3rd army div. That increases the demand on the other the wife s role has not changed entirely. She is still important to the morale of her husband As always and her duty to her Peers remains essential. There s no question that a Soldier can love the army and if his wife does not share that love it becomes a Millstone around the Soldier s neck says Magruder. That added Burden has a direct Impact on the Soldier s performance. Currie agrees that the spouse can influence the military member especially overseas. A spouse who misses the United states is going to have a Strong influence she says. For people in the military it s got to be a team wives still form inherent support groups for each other during times of absence from husbands or tragedies the commanders say. There is a lot of bonding that goes on because of the kind of climate we re in Magruder says. Wives share advice on How to survive the Many moves and the Long separations. As the role of wives has changed the military has strengthened programs to support them. One of the major changes has been the amount of programs designed to take care of soldiers Magruder says. Counselling services and financial Aid Are two areas that have been strengthened. The Young wife who comes into the army is going to find a lot of caring programs for her needs Magruder says. The View from the top As commanders see it then is that the role of the officer s wife is constantly evolving. Magruder says no longer Are they just drinking Tea planning shopping trips and doing a Little volunteering on the More stories in the officers wives series will appear in tomorrow s paper. Tuesday february 21,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15
