.:Why I Appreciate My Spouse:.
SNCO Winner: SSgt Leroy O'Quinn, VMU-1, and wife Elizabeth
In order to tell you my reasons, I would have to go back to the very beginning, when the sacrifices first started. When Elizabeth and I first met, we were both from prior marriages and had children of our own. We dated for two years on weekends only, because she lived in Palm Spring and I lived in San Diego at the time. She decided to move to San Diego in order to be close to me, moving her children and leaving her job. The funny part about this, she sacrificed all this for me and really didn’t understand what the military was about, but she was willing to learn. I received orders to recruiting duty and knew this would be our first test. We were married after I graduated recruiting school and moved to Riverside, Calif., where she moved the kids again and left another job. We soon found out she was pregnant with my son Jordyn and the real strain of recruiting started to take its toll. I was getting up at 5 a.m. and coming home at 11 p.m., almost on a daily basis. She never got angry with me; just curled up to me when I got in bed or waited up and listened to me complain about my day. She told me about what was going on in the kids’ lives or hers by posting it on a read board she placed on the refrigerator when I walked in the house. I counted on my wife for everything, from paying the bills to taking care of the needs of the kids, because I was not able to do it. When our son was born, she decided to go back to work. She was now employed, ran the household, took care of the kids and still stood behind my grueling job of recruiting. I received orders to Twentynine Palms and checked into VMU-1. I was told I would be deploying in four months and once again I would not be there for my family. My wife moved the kids and left another job to be with me for a few months until I deployed to Iraq. She got the kids in school, found a new job and has been my support while in Iraq by sending me packages and letters of praise and love to keep me going. My wife, Elizabeth O’Quinn, has been the cornerstone throughout my career. She has loved and supported me with everything I have done, and after three deployments to Iraq with VMU, she still keeps a smile on her face, telling me how proud she is of what I do. I appreciate my wife because she has sacrificed so much for me and the military without thinking twice. I would not be the man I am today without her at my side, I love her with all my heart. Those reasons are why I appreciate my wife.
