Book tells all … about deployments

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, July 9, 2003

Trading war stories is a popular pastime on Whidbey Island. Trips to espresso stands, supermarkets and lube shops yields tales from every speciality in every branch of the services and every era from World War II to Iraq. The tales don’t come only from those who were overseas; families have their own sagas.

Books chronicling life on the homefront in World War II, Korea and Vietnam through diaries and letters fill shelves in bookstores and libraries. Today, e-mail connects military familes across datelines and timezones.

Recently published “E-mail to the Front: One wife’s correspondence with her husband overseas” by Alesia Holliday is a collection of messages sent during two deployments made by VP-40 Marlins based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. It’s a quick read through familiar territory — sick kids, sick dog, sick applicances — that runs from frightening to funny. During the first deployment, the family lived on West Beach. By the time her husband, Judd McLevey, deployed again, the family had relocated to Everett. Holliday wanted to be closer to Seattle so she could pursue her career as an attorney.

“Our family isn’t special at all,” Alesia Holliday said during a telephone interview from her new home in Jacksonville, Fla. “I wanted to write about what happens to all military families during a deployment.”

It isn’t an overview of experieces faced by all the squadron’s families. It’s personal — Holliday focuses on her fears and frustrations as a mother of two small children whose father leaves for six months at a time.

“The first deployment was hard,” Holliday said. “And me not admitting it was hard, made it that much harder.”

The book is filled with details every family can understand: upset toddlers, strange noises coming from applicances, scary fluids coming from children.

It’s the details Holliday relates that make the book one-of-a-kind. And it’s accented with Whidbey weather and wildlife and CNN breaking news. She includes a graphic discussion from a restroom in Oak Harbor’s Wal-Mart and equally embarrassing scenes of her culinary inadequacies. It’s hard to believe anyone would want to tell the world exactly what her children say and do.

“I’m sure my kids — Conner and Lauren — will use the book against me with their therapists,” Holliday laughed.

In several chapters, Holliday deals with frustrations particular to a patrol squadron: Not knowing where or what her husband is doing. “It was hard to ask how Judd’s day was and be told ‘That’s classified,’” she said. “But once I was working, Judd we ask me about my day and I’d tell him it was all attorney-client privilege.”

A few things about “E-Mail to the Front” seem jarring. The book’s cover art yells “Army!” The photograph shows a woman with two small children looking toward a man in a uniform. He’s in the distance and his features are indistinct but it’s clear he’s wearing a white T-shirt and woodland camouflage. Definitely not what I as a Navy wife think of as Navy-issue desert-wear. As a long shot, EOD, SEALs or SeaBees. But not flying Navy — no baggy flightsuit.

Holliday said she had never considered the uniform important. “My publisher and I thought the photograph showed the book’s message,” she said.

Another incongruity: Holliday makes a trip to the Commissary with two small children on payday. Many people stay as far away from the Commissary as possible on payday to avoid crowds. It’s a survival tactic adopted in the first few months of military life. Why did it take Holliday several years to learn the horrors of such a sortie?

Before moving to Oak Harbor, Holliday did not live close to a base and the family enjoyed two incomes, so they did not depend on base amenities. “When we lived on Whidbey, we were a one paycheck family, so I was more frugal,” she said. “I bought more groceries on base. But I learned my lesson.”

Holliday combined a move from Everett to Jacksonville, Fla., with book promotion, stopping for TV and radio interviews along the route.

Many readers contact Holliday and ask her if she is reading their minds. Holliday has received feedback from families in every branch of the services. “It’s nice to know I’ve helped other families get through a deployment,” she said.

Holliday has connected with several eras of military families. “One of the greatest notes I’ve had was from a woman whose husband fought in World War II. She told me I was ‘following a long petticoat tradition’ and then explained how people patched together messages over ham radios,” she said.

Wives of firefighters, police and frequent travelers have told her how closely her life has paralled theirs.

Her husband transferred to shore duty but he’s going through instructor training and that means a lot of studying. He’s also had extended training trips so the family continues to have schedules fluctuate.

Holliday is sampling the life of a full time writer while keeping the home running. She’s working on a novel and admits to writing “like a fiend.”

“The kids are enjoying mommy being home all the time,” she said.

Holliday isn’t sure if her family will return to Whidbey. She said she misses being near the mountains. And she misses the friends she made.

“We’re keeping in touch through e-mail,” she said.