I Was A Real Man's Man!

Prior to my wife's enlistment in the Army, I was a real man's man. For the better part of a decade, I put on my boots every morning before getting in a hot, smelly work truck in Florida–a loud and beefed up 1984 F-150 pulling a lawn trailer. I was self-employed; my days were spent inhaling the exhaust of lawn equipment or enjoying the smell of fresh dirt while I planted trees and shrubs, or laid down sod.  When I wasn't working or spending time with my family, I fished, played poker, bowled, and did all sorts of other fellowship things with other men. I even camped alone in the wilderness. My life was filled with all kinds of manly activities. 

When she shipped out to boot camp, I became a military spouse, and everything I thought I knew about life changed. And that change was drastic.  In March of 2010 I was Wayne “Doughboy” Perry, just your average landscaper running a weed-whacker and pushing a wheelbarrow.  By October 2012, I was Wayne Perry, AKA TheArmyWife(DUDE), speaking at the Association of the United States Army(AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition as a voice for male military spouses.