(Note from S.J.: I know this says wives ... but there are men who hold the fort down at home as well. I thought was great ... it made me feel proud and for the active duty I sent this too ... please show the spouse!)

By Colonel Steven Arrington

17th Training Wing vice commander

Over the years, I've talked a lot about military wives...how special they are and the price they pay for freedom too. The funny thing about it, is most military wives don't consider themselves different from other wives. They do what they have to do, bound together not by blood or merely friendship, but with a shared spirit whose origin is in the very essence of what love truly is. Is there truly a difference? I think there is. You have to decide for yourself.

Other wives get married and look forward to building equity in a home and putting down family roots. Military wives get married and know they'll live in base housing or rent, and their roots must be short so they can be transplanted frequently.

Other wives decorate a home with flair and personality that will last a lifetime. Military wives decorate a home with flare tempered with the knowledge that no two base houses have the same size windows or same size rooms. Curtains have to be flexible and multiple sets are a plus.

Furniture must fit like puzzle pieces. Other wives have living rooms that are immaculate and seldom used.

Military wives have immaculate living room/dining room combos. The coffee table got a scratch or two moving from Germany, but it still looks pretty good.

Other wives say good-bye to their husband for a business trip and know they won't see them for a week. They are lonely, but can survive. Military wives say good-bye to their deploying husbands and know they won't see them for months, or for a remote, a year. They are lonely, but will survive.

Other wives, when a washer hose blows off, call Maytag and then write a check out for getting the hose reconnected. Military wives will cut the water off and fix it themselves.

Other wives get used to saying "hello" to friends they see all the time. Military wives get used to saying "good-bye" to friends made the last two years.

Other wives worry about whether their child will be class president next year. Military wives worry about whether their child will be accepted in yet another new school next year and whether that school will be the worst in the city ... again.

Other wives can count on spouse participation in special events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, concerts, football games, graduation, and even the birth of a child. Military wives only count on each other; because they realize that the Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. It has to be that way.

Other wives put up yellow ribbons when the troops are imperiled across the globe and take them down when the troops come home. Military wives wear yellow ribbons around their hearts and they never go away. Other wives worry about being late for mom's Thanksgiving dinner. Military wives worry about getting back from Japan in time for dad's funeral. Other wives are touched by the television program showing an elderly lady putting a card down in front of a long, black wall that has names on it, the card simply says "Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. You would have been sixty today." A military wife IS the lady with the card. And the wall is the Vietnam Memorial.

I would never say military wives are better or worse than other wives are. But I will say there is a difference. And I will say that our country asks more of military wives than is asked of other wives. And I will say, without hesitation, that military wives pay just as high a price for freedom as do their active duty husbands. Perhaps the price they pay is even higher.

Dying in service to our country isn't near as hard as loving someone who has died in service to our country, and having to live without them.

God bless our military wives for all they freely give. And God bless America.