Here we go!

Just about every Sunday, my sweet friends, Sherrie (US Navy) and Lacey (US Marine Corps), text me and encourage me while I go to church with 2 children and pregnant by myself (of course I do the same for them).  Its something we started last year as we each faced our own first deployments. Our texts go something like this:

Sherrie, Rhiannon (US Air Force), Lacey, Me (Pensacola, FL 2010)

"On my way to church. Wish me luck"

"Another Sunday down"

"AHHHGGHH! Do you hear that? Its me cheering you on! You can do this!"

I look forward to hearing from them and it reminds me that deployments don't have to suck if we stick together.

Sherrie is extremely crafty.  Like- I want to be like her when I grow up, crafty :-) One Sunday she was giving me all these great ideas about care packages and it dawned on me, that we should have somewhere were we can go and share our ideas, share our feelings, our deployment traditions (because yes it happens enough where we can have traditions), and have somewhere where we can go and know that we are not the only ones going through this alone.

So here it is!  United Spouses of America.  Here I hope to post ideas for care packages, ways to keep the kids entertained, programs the Military has to offer for us, ways we can support our troops, crafts, health and fitness, recipes, whatever you may need so that deployments don't have to suck for you. I hope you enjoy!

Oh.... wait! Who am I?  Here you go :-)

Kevin and I. Navy ball 2011

My name is Doorly Winegar. I was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in NYC. I have been married to my husband for 9 fantastic years!  His name is Kevin Winegar. We met at Brigham Young University.  He was a Senior and I was a Sophomore.  During his senior year, we found out about the HPSP the Military offered. In a nut shell, they pay for all of medical school (tuition, fees, books, monthly stipend, etc) and you give back year for year in service for the time you spent in medical school (or any other health profession).  Kevin came home and told me we could graduate from medical school with very little or no debt.  He didn't have to ask me twice.  I was on board right away and excited for our new journey.

Completion of Intern year at NNMC

He attended Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ. During that time we had our first born, Joey. After graduating, we did our intern year at what was then National Naval Medical Center but is now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.  We were there for a year. It was extremely tough for us because I was on bed rest with our second child and Kevin worked sometimes at 3 am till 6pm. It was very draining for the both of us.  But we loved the area and we welcomed our second child, Emma.





As far as I know, the Navy is the only branch in the service that has the interns do a Flight Surgery tour in the middle of residency.  Kevin got accepted to accomplish Flight Surgery training in Pensacola, FL for the next six months. With 2 children, we moved to Milton, FL where he would spend 1/2 the time training at NAS Whiting Field and the other time at NAS Pensacola.  This is where I met Sherrie and Lacey.  Here, he learned the basics of flying so that he could understand what his pilots go through and I am sure more intricate details I don't know about LoL.  At the end, he received his wings.

Receiving his wings 2010

We now are stationed in Yuma, AZ at the Marine Corps Air Station.  He completed his first deployment last year aboard the 31st MEU. He is currently serving another deployment.

We have Joey and Emma and are expecting our third child.  A girl.  No we don't know the name yet. No he won't be here for the birth.  :-(

Me, Emma, Kevin (US Navy), Joey

So that is us.  Even though our experience is very little, we are very involved and love our lifestyle.  Yes it has its moments, and yes it get frustrating, but we KNEW what we were signing up for, and its an honor to serve our country. Pin It