A military wife tells what it's like

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
April 1, 2003
Laura Miller has seen her husband off to more deployments than she can remember, but it never gets any easier.
Her husband, Lt. Col. Norman Miller, is commander of the Mississippi Air National Guard's 238th Air Support Operations Squadron, stationed in Germany in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She said he's been gone about three weeks.
She told the large crowd gathered for a news conference Monday in front of the Doughboy Monument in downtown Meridian what it's like to be the spouse of a military person deployed during wartime.
She said mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters also are affected when troops are deployed. Tasks like taking out the garbage, lawn care and maintaining the car are things Miller said her husband used to deal with, but those things are her responsibility now.
Miller said that with the downsizing of the military over the years, the National Guard is relied upon more than ever and those who serve are members of the community.
Although Miller talked about how difficult the separation from her husband is for her, she said media coverage of the war has already taken its toll.