In this interview, Mrs. Catherine Payne shares her experiences as the wife of a US Army officer, Major Matthew Payne, who has been on two separate overseas deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism: one to Kuwait and then Iraq from September 2002 through August 2003, and a second to Afghanistan from February to August 2006. During her husband's deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as commander of Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery - part of 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division - Mrs. Payne served as the battery's family readiness group (FRG) leader, which she discusses in detail. "I remember that our focus in the FRG wasn't just social any more," she said. "Things were much more focused and we began to have much more purposeful gatherings of families to truly prepare for addressing this issue of terrorism. We knew our soldiers were going to have that job and we had a sort of complementary job on the household side of things to be ready to support them. As is often said in training briefs," Mrs. Payne added, "a soldier who's worried about his family can't do his job and is a safety risk to those around him." The mother of two small children at the time, and four at the time of this interview, Mrs. Payne also tells of coping with a great deal of uncertainty due to a lack of communication with her deployed spouse, as well as the natural worries about his safety, especially when she received word of his battalion's three-month extension in country. Major Payne's 2006 individual augmentee deployment to Afghanistan, she said, was a bit easier to bear in that he was in a staff position and not commanding a frontline combat unit. Mrs. Payne talks, too, about a variety of household and family reintegration issues upon her husband's returns from Iraq and Afghanistan; her confidence that her family was strong enough to endure the separations; the post-9/11 environment in Hinesville, Georgia, and at Fort Stewart; advice for running a successful FRG; and the fact that the Army needs more priests. "In my experience visiting with other military spouses," she said, "we may not always agree with what the President decides to do or what the Army is doing, but all of us support our soldiers and the idea of freedom for others no matter where they live. So, we understand that that's part of the job."

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