central Texas woman remembers caskets coming home during Vietnam
By John Clark Herald correspondent
COPPERAS COVE — Gwenyth Jett was just a kid then, but she remembers well the years her U.S. Army father was away in Vietnam.
The late Capt. Ira A. Jett, who served 20plus years in the military and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, went to war the first time in 1966, when Gwenyth was 12 years old, and again in 1971 when she was 16.
“I was in Hawaii at the time,” Gwenyth, a longtime Copperas Cove resident, said of her dad’s first combat tour. “We went there in ’62, which was when everything was ramping up. We were watching it on the news every night, and my dad kept telling us he just had an office job.
“He was intelligent — he spoke Japanese, Chinese, Russian. At his funeral, his friends were saying one time he hopped in one of those gliders and he was flying around over battlefields. He would hop on a chopper and go see what was going on. He was doing a lot of stuff he didn’t tell us he did.
“It was pretty bad. You’re aware of the danger. Living on a military base, you had friends whose fathers were killed, and when that happens, the family has to leave the base within 30 days. You’re no longer military attached. I had seen the caskets being off-loaded from airplanes at Hickam (Air Force Base). I saw pallets of body bags being loaded onto those same airplanes to go back.
“I’ve been at San Francisco airport when they had planes come in with the bodies. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this, but when there’s a plane coming in that has the remains of American soldiers, everything on the tarmac stops.
Everything. Nothing resumes until the plane is parked. You would see all along the flight line, everybody that was out there was either saluting or standing quietly with their hand on their heart.”
Jett was born in Fairfield, Illinois, at a hospital built by the family construction business, which included her dad. She lived all over the world as a young girl, graduating from high school in Japan in 1972. Moving around from place to place did not bother her much until she got a little older, but there was another constant source of tension while Gwenyth was growing up.
“You really don’t start thinking about it until you get a little bit older,” she said.
“When you’re little, home is just where mom and dad are. I remember it being hard when my dad was gone to Korea, when I was about kindergarten (or) first grade. Mostly, though, it was fun. My parents were really interested in everything, so wherever we went, we saw whatever was there. They were really good about getting us out to see where we lived and all the kinds of things that went on there. We went to all kinds of festivals and parks and all that good stuff.
“The hard part came in high school when you were leaving friends that you had made. I went to two junior highs and four high schools. We moved about every year to 18 months during that time. We moved from Fairfield to Japan, and then to Missouri, California, New York, Hawaii, back to Illinois, back to Japan. There were eight major moves, but my dad would be gone more often than that. By the time I graduated from high school, my dad was in Vietnam for his second tour.
“Leaving Hawaii was hard because we had been there for five-and-a-half years. That was a rough one. But I think most
of my angst and trauma came more from my parents not really getting along. They kind of stayed together for the kids sort of thing. I think if their marriage had been happier, there would have been different impacts.”
Gwenyth went on to college at Eastern Illinois University, married an Air Force airman in 1974, had a baby, earned a degree in elementary education from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, and was single again at age 22.
“When I started college at Eastern Illinois University, my plan at that point
was to be a doctor, but after a couple of semesters, I decided I really didn’t want to be in school for 10 years. So when I was about a junior, I switched to teaching,” she said. “I graduated at 22 (and) divorced with a two-year-old. People were looking at me like I was some kind of monster. Oh my God, you’re only 22 (and) you’ve been married, divorced, and you have a kid? This was 1976, you know. Back in those days, if you got married, you quit school and became a wife. You didn’t go ahead
PLEASE SEE caskets,
courtesy pHoto
Gwenyth Jett with children, from left, Ian Adkins, Trent Selby, Noelani Jett.
Florida native married soldier husband on the beach in hawaii
By John Clark Herald correspondent
BELL COUNTY — Kathleen Kime was living a dream of travel and adventure after moving to Hawaii from Florida when she met a charming soldier at a Fourth of July backyard barbecue and life abruptly changed directions.
Kime (rhymes with time) was working as a radiologic technologist at Tripler Army Medical Center in the Aloha State when she was invited to the holiday cookout. She did not plan to go, but a friend insisted.
“One of the sergeants I worked with was very outgoing, and she was, like, ‘We’re going to this party,’” Kime, now a resident of Bell County, said. “So we went, and we walked down to the fireworks, came back to the house (and) we were sitting in the dining room, and the gentleman hosting the party came and handed (future husband) Ed a piece of paper and pen and basically said, ‘OK, get her number, already.’
“We went on a few dates, and I wrote my eldest sister a note and told her that if I did not marry him, I probably wouldn’t get married.
“We were both 30, 31 years old, and we just clicked. I never really believed in meeting someone and you just know they’re right for you, but I met him and within that first weekend, I knew. We still finish each other’s sentences sometimes, or we’re both speaking the same thing. It’s just strange how it works with us.”
That was 1997 and the following year in August, the Kimes were married on a Hawaiian beach. Kathleen wanted to have the wedding back home in Florida, but Ed, a Massachusetts native who retired as a chief warrant officer 4 after 28 years’
service, did not want to wait.
Kathleen graduated from high school in south Florida in 1984 with no solid plans except “to travel and have new experiences and see the world.” She had various jobs, went to school, earned an associate degree, and wound up working in radiology at a local hospital.
“I was trying to find my way,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after high school. I delivered mail for a while; waited tables; worked at a bank; taking classes here and there. I knew I wanted to travel and when the opportunity came up, I was, like, sure.
“It kind of came out of the blue. I’m the youngest of five girls, and I have a sister who was in the medical field. My mom found this article and said, ‘Hey, this might be something you’re interested in.’ So I looked into it and got accepted into the program. It was nothing I thought about or knew about at the time.”
After Ed’s assignment at Wheeler Army Airfield was finished, the newlyweds headed to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Kathleen soon experienced the first of multiple deployments that left her head of household.
“My father served in the Korean war and an uncle was in the Navy, but I wasn’t familiar and had no knowledge really of what military life was like,” she said. “When we got married, had a child, and my husband started deploying, having no family around and having to count on the community was difficult.
“I really was oblivious (about) what to expect. When we were in Hawaii, we had a pretty good group of wives who were welcoming, which was nice. After we got married, our first PCS (move) was to Fort Campbell and we had a good base there.
“I’ve had good experiences and bad ex-
Kathleen Kime with sons, Nathan, far right; Evan, middle; and husband, Ed. periences. We were at Fort Campbell and my husband deployed to Korea. Our first son was under a year old and I took him for a picnic with our dog. We didn’t have great cell (phone) service where we were, and I slipped in the mud and I fell and broke my wrist. Thankfully, there were other people in the park, and they assisted me — loaded my child and my dog, drove me home. One of my husband’s co-worker’s wife was home, so she took my son and my retired military neighbor drove me to the hospital.
“I had another friend take care of my son until I could get family to fly out and help me. My arm was in a cast and I couldn’t change a diaper, so it was very
difficult dealing with that. And then having to tell my husband — who is deployed — that I had a broken arm. I knew he would be worried. Thankfully, I had family fly in to help me out until things got better.
“The good thing was I had great neighbors and a great community that could help me, but the bad thing was being away from family.
“Another story was when we first moved here to Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos), I was five months’ pregnant with our second child and immediately had to be hospitalized. We were our first PLEASE SEE Hawaii,
caskets
and have a baby, and then finish school.”
She was on her own for a while, and then Gwenyth came to central Texas in 1982 after her parents divorced and her mother remarried and her Army sergeant husband was stationed at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos). She quickly landed a teaching job at Meadows Elementary School on the military installation and went on to work for two-and-a-half years with the Killeen Independent School District, then 16 years in Copperas Cove, a year in Waco, and also taught GED classes at Central Texas College.
These days, she is working as a Head Start teacher on the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Arizona. The reservation is surrounded by Grand Canyon National Park. Landing a job there has been the fulfillment of a dream for Gwenyth that started years ago.
“When I was 16 years old — 15 years old — I found a book on the Havasupai at a garage sale in Wauconda, Illinois, of all places,” she said. “I bought it and I really wanted to come here. It just took me 50something years to get here.
“Not this (past) Christmas but last Christmas, I called down to the school to see if they might have any jobs available, and I actually ended up teaching over the Internet in May of last year. Then, under a contract with the tribe, I taught summer school. Then I went back home for a couple of weeks, and then came back to start the school year with the B.I.E. (Bureau of Indian Education).
“The Havasupai were the original people who lived in the Grand Canyon. There’s 12 tribes along the Colorado River, but these guys went all the way from Kingman to over near Flagstaff. One of the canyons that empties into the Colo-
rado River … Part of the reservation is in the Grand Canyon National Park, but it’s about 40 miles as the crow flies from where the park is. The reservation butts right up against the park. There are only three ways you can get here: You can walk; you can take a horse or mule; or you can take a helicopter. It’s the last place in the United States where mail is delivered by mule pack train.
“The canyon is gorgeous. I’ve been working with two-year-olds. It’s a lot of fun. I get a lot of exercise. I’ve lost 25 pounds; I can squat again. It has surpassed my expectations.”
Looking back at her childhood in a military family — her stepfather and brother are buried at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, and there are military men on her dad’s side that go back to the French and Indian War — Gwenyth says there were tough times, but overall, living the Army lifestyle was a great experience. She remembers working as a hospital candy striper (volunteer) when the family was stationed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and also going to the movies at a theater near a military hospital facility.
“In one of the bases we lived on, if we went to the neighboring base to go to the movies, every other row of seats had been taken out, because there was a hospital there. There would be wounded soldiers there in wheelchairs, on gurneys, with their IVs and all that. So you’re watching movies with recovering, wounded soldiers.
“When I was 14, we lived at Fort Sheridan, and I was a candy striper (volunteer) at Great Lakes naval hospital. We were not allowed to work on the male wards, and there was only two female wards — the maternity ward and a general ward. So we worked only on those two wards.
“They had sent me over to get the laundry. You had to go down to the second basement of the hospital, down this really
is pictured here when she was a teenage hospital
long tunnel. I was coming back with this big thing of laundry in a cart that was about three or four feet wide and six feet tall. A lot of lights in the tunnel had been knocked out, so there were areas of light and dark. I hear all this noise and commotion, and I can’t see around the corner, when I get knocked flat on my butt. I went around and there was this whole tangle of amputees. These one-legged guys were having crutch races down this tunnel. There were four or five of them all laying in a pile.
“I’m looking at them, wondering what the heck I’m going to do. They’re looking up at me, horrified. One of them says, ‘You gonna tell on us?’ I said, no, and one guy said, ‘The nurse is going to be mad.
My stump’s bleeding.’
“There was no way to get them up. I was, like, 110 pounds. I couldn’t lift these guys. One of them asked me if I could hold the cart steady. I said, yeah, so I braced myself and they pulled themselves up, and we got everybody’s crutches back to the right person. Then we all went back upstairs.
“Mostly, I enjoyed being a military kid,” the mother of three and grandmother of six said. “For me, it made me curious about everything. I want to know about different cultures, different foods, and how different people live. I met so many wonderful people. The last two high schools I went to were in Japan, and I go to those reunions.
Gwenyth
candy striper volunteer.
Small-town kentucky girl enjoying central Texas while family stationed here
By John Clark Herald correspondent
Not long after Brooke Hardt married her husband, a pilot in the United States Army, she got a somewhat rare opportunity to experience what it feels like to fly in a Black Hawk helicopter.
It was after flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama (now Fort Novosel), the Kentucky native explained, when they were assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, that the military arranged a special time for soldiers’ spouses to take a ride in a powerful Black Hawk, described as “the world’s best combat assault (and) utility helicopter.”
“I think it was called a spouse ride or family ride or something,” Brooke said. “They didn’t let children do it and you weren’t allowed to ride with your spouse. It was about 20 minutes, just around the area. I think we flew with the doors open, and they flew pretty low so we could see everything.
“It was pretty cool.”
A Black Hawk carries two pilots and two crew chiefs/gunners. The aircraft has a maximum speed of 183 mph and can be equipped with machine guns, mini guns, gatling guns, rockets, and missiles. The name Black Hawk is also associated with the infamous 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, which involved U.S. forces, the Somali National Alliance (SNA), and armed citizens of south Mogadishu. It was October 3 when what was intended as a one-hour mission turned into an overnight standoff and the Somalis used RPGs to shoot down three American Black Hawk helicopters.
Two helicopters crashed deep inside hostile territory, sparking a fight that ended with 18 American troops dead.
After the battle, Somalis dragged some of the bodies through the streets of the city of Mogadishu, an act that was shown on television news reports and produced extensive public outcry.
Brooke, meanwhile, was born in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, a few miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio. She graduated high school in 2012 and headed to Eastern Kentucky University, where her life soon changed in an unexpected way.
“My first weekend at college, I met my husband,” Brooke said. “Classes hadn’t even started yet. The freshmen do a welcoming party, and he was there. He was a year older, so he was a sophomore.
“I honestly don’t remember, but I think we just found out that we were
from pretty much the same hometown. Our hometown is small — I think I graduated with less than 150 people — but he went to a private high school and I went to the public high school. So that’s how we met and the rest is history.”
Now married for eight years, the couple has three boys ranging in age from two months to six years.
While they were at Fort Campbell, Brooke had to say goodbye when her husband was deployed to Afghanistan for nine months (2018-19). They lived on post and she stayed there with their eight-month-old son, and says she was “not that worried, honestly.”
“I think things had slowed down a little bit over there,” Brooke said. “We
lived on base there, so we had a pretty good (support) community. We had a great neighborhood and lots of friends, and my brother just happened to be stationed there at that time, as well, so that worked out. I had him there and then our families were only four hours away, driving distance.”
From Fort Campbell, it was back to Fort Rucker (Novosel) for some fixedwing flight training, then on to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, from March to December 2020, when they moved to Fort Hood (Cavazos).
“We were there (Huachuca) during COVID, so we literally couldn’t do anything,” Brooke said. “It was beautiful. There’s a lot to do outside but because of COVID, we pretty much couldn’t travel outside of the city — and there’s nothing to do in the city. There was lots of hiking and biking.
“We were nervous coming here. We had heard lots of things about Fort Hood, but then it surprised us. We really like it here. The work environment that my husband is in is really nice.
“We love to be outside, so Texas is perfect for that — except when it’s cold. I like to exercise ... go on walks. Go hiking. We do travel quite a bit. My husband’s family lives now in Florida, so we normally take two weeks in the summer and go to Florida. This past summer, we went to Hawaii because my brother was stationed there.
“We’ve gone to Fredericksburg. We’ve gone to Dripping Springs. We like to go to Salado a lot. Our kids love the creek in Salado. We go to Dana Peak (Park) a lot to hike.”
Since joining the military lifestyle eight years ago, Brooke has mostly
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The Hardt family in Hawaii: Jax, Brooke, Jett, Logan.
week in our new home, unpacking, and again, we had no family. Because we were new here and my husband was located at West Fort Hood (Cavazos), there were a lot of geographical bachelors and so we didn’t have the community to help.
So my husband had to find care for our older son, who was two at the time.
“I had great neighbors who were also military that could help, but he would literally drop my son, come see me at the hospital, go to work, pick up my son, bring him to the hospital for me to see, take him home and take care of him. I finally did get family to come out and help, but it was very difficult having no support here at the time.”
Along with Korea, Ed served three missions as a combat pilot in the Middle East and Kathleen became a stay-athome mom for their two boys. She still remembers the anxiety of sending him off to war and the relief of welcoming him back home.
“I remember the tears and the jubilation,” she said. “You’re so grateful that they’re home and safe. We made signs for the kids — I think all three of us hugged him at the same time — and his brother was able to come welcome him home. It’s a great feeling, but then you also have to integrate back into the home and schedule and things like that.
“I really tried not to think about it too much when he was gone, and just focus on what’s going on at home and not sit and stew over what may or may not be happening over there. I tried not to listen to the news too much and then when he could call, that was great. Of course, if it got to be four days and you haven’t heard from him, then you start worrying. But he was able to keep in touch, so that was good.”
When her kids got a little older, Kathleen decided it was time for her to get back to work. By then, the family was stationed here in Central Texas, and even though she had a solid resume, finding a job again was not so easy.
“Getting back into the work force was kind of difficult,” Kathleen said. “Even though you may have 10 years of experience, some places are hesitant to hire you because you’ve been out of the field for so long. I was lucky. At the time, (AdventHealth) was Metroplex, and they took a chance on me. I started out working per diem until I moved to part-time and then full-time, as my children got older. Now, I’m working as a cardiovascular technologist and I’ve been there 11 years.”
Looking back at her life’s decisions and the way things panned out, Kathleen says she learned a lot during her years as
a military spouse, and she likes to pass those lessons along whenever she has a chance.
“I tell ya, I’ve had friends — younger women — who have literally boarded themselves in their room and cried when their husband deployed,” she said. “The life is not for everybody.
“I think before everything happened (overseas) and there weren’t so many deployments, it probably wasn’t as difficult. I think people have to understand with the situation in the world today that they may be a single parent or a single spouse for some time, and you have to be ready for that.
“For me, it was an adjustment. Having two children at home alone is not always easy. You have to count on family or friends, and I think you have to be somewhat independent and be able to handle minor things that may happen.
When our children were in elementary school, we had a great group of friends. We would hang out after school and let all the kids play, and then those people slowly PCSed. Our kids at one point said, ‘When are we going to move?’
“Ed was on West Fort Hood for three different units, so we were lucky and did not transition like everybody else, but my children were (wondering) where all their friends are going. So it was difficult for them — and for me, as my friends and support dispersed, and I was left alone, as well. It was probably five or six women who just connected, hung out, went to each other’s homes, and had a great time. Even though our husbands were in different units, we could talk about what we were going through.
“We knew we were there for each other. When they all left, it was very sad – and it’s still sad to this day. We still stay connected through email, text, social media, or whatever, but a lot of them have retired or moved along, and I haven’t had those same kinds of connections again.
“I think people should really consider the military life and think about that before they get into it. I’m not saying it’s bad (but) it’s not for everyone. It’s a different way of life and you have to prepare for those situations where your husband may come home and say, ‘I have to leave in three days, or a week.’
“You have to be mentally prepared. I think some women are great at that and can do it, and then some women — I hate to say younger women — may not quite be ready for what may come up. The military can be very unexpected.
“I think it’s important to have respect for each other, communicate, and do your best to understand where each other may be coming from. Each partner has different issues to deal with, whether it’s the person being deployed or the parent that stays behind. Take time to listen and patience is important.
courtesy pHoto
Ed and Kathleen Kime were married on the beach in Kauai, Hawaii, in 1997.
Texas native says living the military lifestyle keeps her plenty busy
By John Clark Herald correspondent
Marrying a soldier and joining the military lifestyle has been a fairly smooth transition for Texas native Macy Anderson — albeit a busy one.
Born in east Texas in Lufkin and raised in Huntsville, Anderson graduated high school in 2014 and headed off to college at Texas A&M University to pursue her dream of a career in health care. She was only in Aggieland for a week when a young member of the university’s famed Corps of Cadets named Grant Anderson sat down next to her at church one Sunday and introduced himself.
She did not know it at the time, but life was about to head in a slightly different direction.
“He came and sat down,” Macy said.
“There was a seat between us, and I didn’t have my Bible with me, so when the sermon started, he was trying to be smooth and share his Bible with me, but they always put the scriptures up on the (video) screen.
“It was a service of all college kids, so it wasn’t that uncommon for people to sit next to each other and get to know each other that way. We just kind of started talking and afterwards, we walked out to the parking lot and talked for a little bit. He got my number, and I think it was the next weekend, we went out on a little lunch date. We met in 2015 and we got married two years later in Conroe.”
Grant, now a U.S. Army captain stationed at Fort Cavazos, served in the National Guard while he was in college with plans to go active duty after graduation. Almost right away, the military gave the young couple a taste of what their future lives together would be like.
“When we first started dating, he left for basic training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma about six weeks after we met,” Macy said.
“We wrote letters to each other, and when he was done with basic, I drove up there for graduation.
“We got married in August 2017 and then Hurricane Harvey hit (Texas and Louisiana) right after that. His Guard unit got activated — he was still in college — so he was out for a couple weeks dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane. When he came back, it was supposed to be his last semester (and) he was so far behind in school, we were playing catch-up the entire semester, trying to get him to where he could graduate and commission into the military.
“He graduated and worked for the college ROTC department while he was waiting to go to Basic Officer Leadership Course. We were living in College Station at the time, and he went off to BOLC for six months while I was still finishing nursing school, so we lived apart for a little while there. He was in Oklahoma, so we visited on the weekends. It was only about a six-hour drive, so it wasn’t too bad.”
Macy finally joined Grant again fulltime at his first duty station, Fort Bragg, North Carolina (now Fort Liberty). She had earned her degree and was living her dream as an emergency room nurse when things got a little complicated.
“We were only there for five months and he got sent on a rapid deployment over to Kuwait,” Macy said. “We had about 48 hours’ notice, and once he was over in Kuwait, COVID hit. I’m a brand-new nurse, working in an ER, and I’m dealing with patients and a disease that they’re telling us is going to kill us. My husband is not there. I don’t have family anywhere nearby. You can’t go and hang out with people, and I
didn’t know when my husband was going to be home, so it was a very scary time. It was terrifying at times.
“I just had to ... go to work and get it done.
“At first, we were getting patients who were really, really sick and couldn’t quite figure out exactly what it was and how the
courtesy pHoto
The Anderson family: Macy, son, Callahan, and husband, Grant. Macy and Grant met at a church service while the two were students at Texas A&M University in College Station.
very difficult.
disease was going to progress (and) if I was going to get sick. I’ve been covered in all types of body fluids. Just yesterday at the urgent care I work at, a poor little kid threw up all over the floor and we had to go clean it up. Then, I also have a toddler.”
After earning two bachelor’s degrees from Texas A&M (biomedical sciences and nursing), Macy is working on a doctorate and hopes to be working as a family nurse practitioner as soon as next year. Right now, she works full-time from home, is a full-time grad school student, does rotations at the clinic, and chases after son, Callahan.
“I don’t sit still very well,” Macy said, laughing. “I’ve always worked a couple jobs.
“I actually work remotely for a clinic back in North Carolina. When we were at Fort Bragg (Liberty), I went on maternity leave and I convinced them to let me make my job remote, essentially. I monitor
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been a stay-at-home mom, which she loves. She looks forward to the future and any new adventures that are on the way:
“Here in Killeen, before our son was born in December, I taught two days a week at a church Mother’s Day Out program. But I’ve pretty much stayed at home with our kids, for the most part.
“I didn’t really have a plan for the future going into college. I just knew I would go to college and see where I’d
pacemakers and defibrillators for people who have those devices. I was able to prove that could be done remotely, so whenever we PCSed, I convinced them to let me take the job with me.”
Looking back now at the life she began seven years ago, Macy says she never had any second thoughts about marrying into the military. There have been difficult times, but life is good, she is happy — and glad to be back in Texas for a while.
“It’s good to be back home,” she said. “I really like it here. I like the closeness to Austin and Georgetown. You still have a small town feel here, but then we’re also pretty close to the bigger cities. I like the variety in Texas. You can be in the mountains; you can be at the lake; you can be at the ocean; but you’re still in Texas. And people are generally very friendly.
“It’s been a wild ride, with a lot of moves and a baby. It’s been really busy. After Bragg, we moved three times in the span of a year — starting over every time; having to find new childcare; new work; new health care. I was having to keep up with work and school and my kid — without daycare — all at the same time. It was
end up. I haven’t always loved every place we’ve lived, but you have to try your best to find things to do and get into community. I think it’s what you make of it. It’s easier when you have kids, too. You can go to a park and the kids play and you start talking to other parents and that’s how you build friendship. When we didn’t have kids, we’d take our dog to the dog park, and that’s how we met people.
“The aviation community is so small, too, so every place we’ve been, we’ve known somebody that’s also moved there. So we haven’t ever moved to a new place without knowing somebody, which is nice.
“Lots of long nights; lots of frustration. But it was a learning experience and it’s cool to look back on it and see how resilient and strong we’ve been. Everything we’ve gone through and how we’re making it to the other side.
“We don’t really make plans very far in advance. When both of us are off for a day and the kid isn’t sick from daycare, we just go. We can’t really plan big family events. We can only guarantee our presence maybe a week or two in advance, so we just
kind of show up places and hope people accept us,” Macy said, with a chuckle.
“One thing I’ve learned is to have multiple backup plans. If I know my husband’s going to be in the field, or he’s going to be gone, I have to have three or four backup plans for childcare. Three or four backup plans for someone to come take care of my dogs, if something happens. If I get sick, who’s going to help out.
“I always have a back pocket full of ideas … kind of anticipating the worst but hoping for the best.”
Businesswoman trains with horses and travels the nation
By John Clark Herald correspondent
KILLEEN — Before she met a soldier and became a military spouse, Megan Chastain was working toward fulfilling a dream to ride horses in the Olympics.
“My childhood dream was to be a horse trainer,” the one-time Salado and Harker Heights resident now living in Killeen said. “I got my first horse when I was, like, 14, and I wanted to make it to the Olympics.
“So, I was going to go to a college in Virginia to do an equine business degree, but I had sent a bunch of emails to some well-known trainers, and I got an apprenticeship with a lady named Anne Gribbons in Florida. She is a dressage trainer, which most people don’t know is an Olympic (equine) sport. I went and apprenticed with her for four years – I
want to say 2002 to 2006 – (and) competed professionally under her. She also became the U.S. Olympic team coach for dressage. Then I decided to leave her and try to go out on my own, training and whatnot.
“It (horse competition) is kind of an odd sport. It’s not like you can be fast at running, where it’s all on you. You also have to have a horse, and those horses cost several hundred thousand dollars. There’s a lot that goes into it and I figured out along the way that I just couldn’t do it. As a young person, you think you can figure it out and make it work.
“So I left her (Gribbons) and was training horses here and there, and also trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I got into odd jobs, sales and whatnot. I was living in Florida and decided I wanted to go back and
be closer to family. So I decided to come back to Texas, and that’s how I met my husband.”
Chastain was born in Michigan, moved to Indiana when she was eight, and down to central Texas and Salado when she was high school age. She was home-schooled, left Texas to pursue her Olympic dream, came back after a few years, and then one fateful day met a
“We met on an online dating app. I want to say I was 34 when we met,” Megan said. “We went to the Ale House on our first date. It was good. Honestly,
always said that he just kind of felt
young Army officer named Michael who was stationed at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos).
I’ve
like
courtesy pHoto
The Chastain family, from left: Megan, Elliot, Lily, Michael, Maxwell.
to do any of it.”
home. I felt really comfortable around him.”
The couple dated for about a year-anda-half and got married in October 2016 in Arkansas. They have three children.
Her first taste of military life came right away when Michael was assigned to attend the Captain’s Career Course at Fort Gordon, Georgia (now Fort Eisenhower). Megan says the transition from single civilian to soldier’s wife was fairly smooth. Her husband had been deployed to Afghanistan before they married but has remained stateside since then.
“I don’t think it’s been that difficult,” she said. “I didn’t have any problem with it. I loved moving (and) I’ve been doing that my whole life anyway, so ... I’ve been lucky. I have friends whose husbands have been gone half their marriage. That’s tough.”
The Chastains stayed at Fort Gordon (Eisenhower) for about six months, then headed to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for a year, then back to Gordon for four years. Now stationed at Fort Cavazos, Michael is a major with 18 years of service in the U.S. Army.
For a while, Megan tried keeping her hand in the horse business, but when she found out she was pregnant with her first child, the big dream officially ended.
“I was still trying to do a few horse things,” she said. “United States Dressage Federation has a trainer certification program, so I was working on that. The thoroughbred industry has a Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) where you take a horse off the track and you have 90 days to turn it into something (for a second career after racing). I was working on those two things, but I ended up getting pregnant and not being able
One challenge Megan has faced is something experienced by plenty of military spouses – finding employers to hire them when they are likely to be moving around from place to place as their soldier is reassigned.
“Something I have found to be kind of difficult as a military spouse is finding a career when you’re bouncing around so much,” she said. “I did so many odd jobs just trying to keep busy. I did sales, office management, (and) commercial cleaning.
“I was constantly trying to come up with business ideas, and last spring I finally graduated from college (bachelor’s degree in marketing) and I kind of had this idea to start a cleaning business and I would hire military spouses. I started working on that about a month
after I graduated.
“We officially opened in October. We do residential and commercial. I’ve really enjoyed it. I wanted to find a way I could do something from home, but also move around and help support other spouses. I know how difficult it is to find a job when you’re always moving around.
“It’s going great. I’m going to be opening another location soon in San Antonio, with some of the Air Force bases down there.”
The business, Mil Maids Cleaning Services, includes Killeen, Copperas Cove,
Harker Heights, Nolanville, Belton, and Temple, and provides move-in and move-out cleaning, janitorial services, vacation rentals, and more. Along with cleaning services, the business is designed to provide jobs specifically for military spouses.
According to the company website: “We serve the under-employed and undervalued military spouse community by providing flexible employment and a living wage, which allows military dependents to put family first.” For more information, go to: https:// milmaids.com.
courtesy pHotos
Michigan native Megan Chastain once had dreams of competing in the Olympics in horseback riding.
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