Tanya Queiro, a former Marine Corps noncommissioned officer,
received the national 2009 Military Spouse of the Year award. She also received
the service-branch award as the Marines' top military spouse.
Queiro's husband, Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Jose Queiro, is stationed at Camp
Lejeune, N.C. They are raising three children: two sons, Jose, 12, and Marcus,
10; and a daughter, Adrianna, 8. Queiro said she met her future husband while
she was in the Marines.
Other 2009 MSOY award service-branch honorees include:
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Army: Misti Stevens, wife of
Army Lt. Col. Wendell Stevens, Fort Campbell, KY
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Air Force: Susan P. Webb,
wife of Air National Guard Master Sgt. Ken Webb, Air National Guard Base,
Glasford, Ill
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Coast Guard: Trish Pruett,
wife of Coast Guard Cmdr. Jim Pruett, U.S. Coast Guard District 7, Miami
- Navy: Christy Kuriatnyk, wife of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Alex
Kuriatnyk, Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport, Miss.
Military spouses support their husbands or wives and serve
the communities in which they live, Tanya Queiro said, noting that she and her
husband have been married for 13 years. She volunteered to participate in the
Marines' Lifestyle Insight, Networking, Knowledge, and Skills mentorship
program, which provides new military spouses with knowledge about Marine Corps
traditions, customs and courtesies and overall military culture.
“All the volunteers are spouses teaching spouses,” she explained. “So, we hand
down best practices -- things that have worked for us and, hopefully, things
that will work for them in their marriage.”
Queiro's said he's thankful for his wife's support while he's away performing
special operations missions.
“I could walk out of that door at any time, head to Afghanistan or Iraq, and
know that everything back at home will be all right when I get back,” the
gunnery sergeant said. “I don't have to worry about any issues in the rear; I
know my wife is handling everything.
“That means a lot,” he continued. “I can concentrate on the mission, and come
back home alive.”
Misti Stevens and her Army-officer husband, Wendell, have been married for 19
years and have two children. They have since relocated to Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Army spouses, she said, have a duty to assist other military families. Stevens
participates in family readiness groups that help to prepare military families
for periods when their husbands or wives are deployed, as well as other programs
that address quality-of-life issues for Army families and single soldiers.
“My job is to support the families, especially during deployments,” she said.
“I'm there to help take care of their problems.”
Stevens' husband, a lieutenant colonel with the Army Corps of Engineers, praised
his wife for her support to him and to his soldiers and their families.
“She has been very helpful to my career, as well as in the units that we've been
with,” he said. “If you're worried, you're not going to do as well in your job.”
Air Force MSOY recipient Susan P. Webb and her husband, Ken, have been married
for 28 years. She said she believes military spouses must support their military
mates and maintain a positive attitude in dealing with the challenges that come
with a military lifestyle.
“Try to look at something positive that's from the situation and make the best
of it, and keep smiling and laugh,” she said. “You will get through anything.”
When husbands and wives are deployed, she added, military spouses need to “be
strong while they're away, make wise decisions when they're gone and keep the
family and the household together and running.”
Ken Webb said he is proud of his wife and is grateful for her support.
“To have a wife that is supportive when you are in the military just makes life
easier in the military,” the noncommissioned officer said. When life is going
well at the home, said Webb, who has raised three children with Susan, then
servicemembers can focus on the job.
Trish Pruett and her husband, Jim, a Coast Guard commander, have been married
for 18 years. Pruett said she stays in touch with the Coast Guard's military
community in Miami through her ombudsman work at District 7. The couple has
three daughters.
Trish said much of her life as a military spouse consists of ensuring that
“everything stays together for last-minute changes” and holding down the home
front when her military-lawyer husband is away on duty.
“She takes care of the home and the daughters, where I don't have to worry about
it at all,” said Pruett, noting that his wife also performs copious volunteer
work on behalf of local military families.
Pruett said his wife's efforts allow him “to focus on my job and support the
Coast Guard.”
Navy wife Christy Kuriatnyk and her husband, Alex, also have been married for 18
years. The couple has two girls and a boy. Alex, a lieutenant commander, is a
“geographic bachelor” who works with a Seabee unit in Gulfport, Miss., while
Christy takes care of the couple's two high-school-age children who live at the
family's home in Georgia.
“The role of a Navy spouse, basically, I think, is to support the service, as
well as the active-duty member, in all matters,” Christy Kuriatnyk said. She has
a public-health job that enables her to work with the military community at Fort
Benning, Ga., and she also volunteers for the Operation Homefront nonprofit
organization that assists military families when their servicemember spouses are
deployed.
“The Navy really has blessed us,” she said, noting that she and her husband feel
compelled in return to help military families in need and homeless veterans.
“My wife is the backbone of our family,” Alex Kuriatnyk said of his wife's
efforts in paying the family's bills and taking care of their children while he
is away on military duty, which has included several tours in Iraq. She
“supports the family when I'm not there,” he said. “She's the hero.”
Chelle Brewer, who was last year's national Military Spouse of the Year, has
been married to Army 1st Lt. Steven Brewer for five years. Her volunteer work --
which includes helping children with special needs and visits with soldiers
diagnosed with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder --
reflects her desire to maintain a positive outlook, despite experiencing several
family tragedies. Her son, Rory, died three years ago at childbirth, and his
twin sister, Lorelei, was born without three of the four chambers of her heart.
The couple also has a 7-year-old son, Cavan.
Last year, Brewer's husband, a military psychologist, was seriously injured
during a parachute jump exercise at Fort Benning, Ga.
“I feel as though I had a choice,” she said. “We were given very bad
circumstances, and I could either feel bad for myself, or try to make it better
for other people. So I chose to try and help other people, instead of wallowing
in my own self-pity.” |
