Today's Officer - Winter 2007 - (Page 15) DOUBLE DUTY CA R L A N D J E N N I FER Lt. Jennifer Bodin, USAR, and Lt. Carl Bodin, USN, met as undergraduates at the University of Illinois in 2001. Jennifer says she remembers seeing Carl and hearing he was going into the Navy. Because she was going into the Army, she thought they might have something to talk about. Carl, however, says he noticed Jennifer for other reasons. “We would see each other at church and at get-togethers,” recalls Carl. “The first thing I noticed about her was her smile and her laugh. She is a very happy person and fun to be around.” Carl graduated in 2002 and was first stationed in Italy. He returned in 2003 to marry Jennifer, who was one year behind him. Jennifer moved to Italy for a year before she was activated and assigned to Germany in 2004. Then, a little more than a year into their marriage, Jennifer was deployed to Afghanistan. “It was hard. I hadn’t even been married to my husband for a year yet, and I was like, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” she recalls. “But I signed the dotted line, and I knew I had my duty.” PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS: DOUG STERN She served in Afghanistan for a year and returned to the U.S. in March 2006. Less than a year later, Carl, a surface warfare officer — a “nuc” — was deployed to the Persian Gulf from January 2007 to September 2007 and was stationed aboard the USS John C. Stennis. Of the four years Jennifer and Carl have been married, they have been in the same location for only two. Though the two young officers are committed to fulfilling their duty to their respective services, Jennifer admits the long separations are difficult. “The separation is really, really hard,” she says. “I don’t think people appreciate how much work it is. With a single military couple, it’s like the roles just switch when the military spouse leaves, but with us, it’s like we both have to readjust when we return.” Carl agrees the separation has been tough. “I think the hardest part for me is the constant transition. I like to handle a lot of stuff at home and try to take the best care of her I can while [at] home,” he says. “When I leave, all those tasks default to her, and she always does a good job with Winter 2007/08 TODAY’S OFFICER 15
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