Dynamic Duo

CREEKWOOD — Deb Von Cannon never dreamed the places in the Middle East she read about in college were ones she would ever see in real life.

But that all changed in 2002, when her U.S. Army Reserve unit was activated for duty. Nearly two years later, she found herself in the middle of the desert at a base with about 250 other soldiers fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“It was a pretty neat experience, especially as a woman,” Deb says, noting only about 40 soldiers in her unit were female. “(Serving in the military) is something most of the people I hang out with have never done or even contemplated.”

Her 408-day stint in Kuwait and Iraq was difficult, but it also proved to be an experience she would never trade.

“I knew it was going to be hard, and I new America was spoiled, but I got a different sense of appreciation for our country,” Deb says.

“I might be a veteran, but I’m very thankful for the ones who came before me,” she says. “They got plucked out of lines, and I got to volunteer to go. I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to be an ‘Average Joe’ and get plucked out of life. We had it hard, but it was nothing compared to them.”

BASIC TRAINING
Deb Von Cannon and her husband, Martin, began dating in 1987 while both were in high school. And while both had military aspirations, the couple broke up several months later when Martin shipped off to become a soldier with the U.S. Army. Deb was a junior in high school when Martin left for basic training in Ft. Sill, Okla., for two months and then spent six months in another location for his advanced individual training, learning to fix computers and telecommunication devices.

They lost touch until 1989, while Deb was in college in Florida.
 
“I had a dream about him one night,” Deb recalls with a grin. “I contacted his parents and found out he was stationed in Hawaii. I wrote him a letter.”

She steals a glance at her husband, and laughs.

“Here we are,” she says.

In fact, the couple got engaged in March 1990 — just a few months after being reunited. They had planned to marry in January 1991 but were detained.

“He couldn’t come here because of Desert Storm,” Deb says. “Instead, I enlisted in the Army Reserves.”

Deb, who had always dreamed of becoming a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, realized her poor vision wouldn’t allow her to fulfill her dream and that she may never see her future husband if they were not enlisted in the same branch. By joining the Army Reserves, she could be wherever Martin was stationed.

Deb went to basic training and then to Airborne school in 1991 before coming home to get a regular civilian job.

The two married in March 1992 but still were not together until August when they moved to Washington state, where Martin was being stationed.

“I consider our honeymoon the seven days that got us across the country,” Martin says.

They chuckle at the memory.

“We drove two cars,” Deb says. “Whatever we could pack in them, we did. It was mostly military gear. My parents gave us two pots, two pans and two forks.

“We got in our first argument (while we were driving),” she says, noting her windshield wiper flew off in a rainstorm in rush-hour traffic. “We were screaming over two-way radios trying not to lose each other (on the road).”

After a total of eight years in the military, Martin transitioned back into civilian life, taking a job in software architecture. Deb got out of the Reserves in 1998.

But a life completely away from the military didn’t last long. Deb worked several part-time jobs around being a mom to three daughters — Brianna, Daphne and Samantha. But ultimately, she says, working one weekend a month as a reservist seemed to be a better fit for her family. She reenlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves in May 2001.

“I liked the work, and I missed it,” she says.

But neither she nor Martin was prepared for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Both knew Deb’s deployment was inevitable, especially once her unit was activated in 2002, but Deb didn’t get deployed to Iraq until March 2004.

Their military background made the transition much easier because both knew what to expect and what to do.
“It was a lot like role-reversal,” Martin says of Deb’s absence.

He took over paying the bills and had to learn to be “more emotional” when dealing with their children. Deb spent her days in Iraq on a military base, maintaining and repairing helicopters as explosives boomed nearby.

“Nobody died, but some of the guys got hit with shrapnel,” Deb says. “That was close enough for me.”

COMING HOME
After coming back to the United States, Deb did not shrug off the feeling of war easily. In fact, she practically hid under a chair while watching her first Fourth of July fireworks display. She also had a hard time dealing with women, as well as sounds like children screaming, when she arrived home from her tour in Iraq, she says.

But the joys and hardships of military life are ones the Von Cannons wouldn’t trade for the world; the memories are simply too delicious — traveling to foreign countries, jumping out of airplanes and fixing equipment.

Martin says the skills he learned while in the service have carried with him throughout his career, helping him to interact with all varieties of people — whether he liked them or not — and adapting to change.

Deb agrees, adding once someone has been in the military, there’s a connection to other veterans that can’t be put in to words. The soldiers who served in her unit overseas are still some of her closest friends. And there’s even a special connection with other veterans in her neighborhood because of the teamwork and unity serving in the military requires.

“I wish everybody got to experience that,” Deb says. “It’s like a gift.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].