LIFE CAN be lonely for a military wife.
“Good thing I’m a very independent woman,” said Jaime King, wife of veteran Joseph “Jody” King.
People warned her before she married, and Jaime admitted she was a little nervous. After all, she didn’t live in a military town, and she never “in a million years” imagined she would marry a man in the military. But she did.
She and Jody met at her grandmother’s house in Antioch when they were just young teenagers. Not long after, her stepmother took a new job in Michigan, and Jaime had to move away. Jody later tried to reconnect. While finishing boot camp, he told her he wanted her to be his wife.
“I told him we should wait because we were so far away from each other,” Jaime said. “Then we lost contact.”
She was 25 when they reunited. She flew down to visit him, and the two picked right back up as if they had never drifted apart. Within a couple of months, they knew they wanted to be together. One day, while dressed for a fun day at the beach, they decided to spend the rest of their lives together. Wearing a beach cover-up, Jaime accompanied Jody to the courthouse, and they made it official.
“Crazy, huh?” she said with a laugh. “But I have loved every minute of it. I wouldn’t do anything differently.”
After spending years as a military wife, Jaime came to a simple conclusion — Jody King is her hero. She remains proud of the sacrifices he made to serve his country and of everything he has done to take care of their family.
After serving in the United States Navy for 21 years, Jody retired as an aviation mechanic. He completed the full 21 years in Virginia Beach, so the family did not have to relocate. However, he went on six long deployments, two of which were back-to-back, each lasting nine months.
“My father passed away while he was out on one of those deployments, and I was devastated,” Jaime said. “The Navy flew him off the boat so that he could come home for the service. I am so glad they allowed him to do that. It was hard on both of us when he was gone for so long.”
When Jody was on the Eisenhower, the ombudsman held monthly meetings with families to relay information from the ship. Families prepared care packages for their loved ones with food and other items. Jaime decorated her boxes with a theme and made sure never to forget the one thing her husband requested.
“Jody wanted prank stuff in his box because he loves to laugh,” Jaime said. “He always tried to make the best out of every situation, even if he was stuck out in the middle of the ocean.”
Being apart for long periods of time was an obstacle that Jaime and Jody worked hard to navigate. But for their children, the obstacle was significantly more challenging. Fortunately, the Navy provided ways to help the children cope.
“Families could send in a picture of their loved one and then receive a stuffed doll about 12 inches tall with a hand-sewn picture on the front,” Jaime explained. “The children could carry the doll around or sleep with it at night, which is what our kids did.”
One of the most meaningful ways loved ones connected with their children was through videos of them reading a story. The Navy recorded the readings on DVDs and sent them home for the children to watch during story time.
“Jody asked questions as he read the book and then paused as if he heard their responses,” Jaime said. “They loved it.”
The hardest part for Jaime and the children was the “workups.” Jody would come home for the weekend, then leave. He would return for a week, then leave again until he finally shipped out on a long deployment.
Trying to explain Jody’s absence to their toddlers was difficult. Jaime had no family nearby to help her stay strong for them.
Even though Jaime and Jody were separated by miles and months at a time, they remained committed to each other and have now been together for 16 years. Their four children, now grown or nearly grown, are doing well.
Jody continues to serve others, currently presiding over the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Veterans Advisory Committee. Jaime said he remains grateful to God for the blessings of family and country.
“He toughed it out through the years with his humor and his charm,” Jaime said. “He is and always will be our hero.” GN
