Marrages remain secure aesp.t? '" '
by Duane Leibhart .
The Vietnam war has put many young marriages
to the acid test by splitting up man and wife for a
year or more.
The wife is left alone to fend for herself and her
children, if any. She is virtually a widow until her
husband returns. Letters and tape recorded messages
are about the only contact possible.
According to an Army captain who was stationed
in Vietnam, the divorce rates re no higher in the
armed forces than in civilian life. ! Very few of the
men in my unit got 'Dear John' , letters' he stated.
The career officer,, who wished to remain
anonymous, theorized that if a marriage is any good
in the first place the geographical separation won't
make any difference. ,.
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'The military wife is a .different breed of cat," he
stated. "She has to put up with more problems as a
group than any other bunch of wives in the country,"
he said. "A military wife steps in when her husband
leaves like a mama lion taking care of the den.
"My wife is one of those remarkable ladies," he
said. "Before we were married she hadn't had a lot of
experience in making it on her own."
When the captain was sent to Vietnam he said his
wife took care of all the problems that came up,
looked after their two small children and paid every
- bill they owed.
According to the officer, their TV went on the
blink while he was overseas. A repairman told his wife
it would cost. $200 to repair the set. She decided it
was too much for them to afford. One day her
cousin, who is familiar with TV repair, looked at the
set and fixed it with a $12 tube.
The captain said married and single soldiers show
some differences.
"The married men have had a taste of
responsibility and approach day to day problems with
less complaints," he said.
Single men are not necessarily any more aggressive
combat troops than married men, he said, their
attitudes as soldiers are basically the same.
"l-think the single men feel they have more to lose
than married men," he said. A single man hasn't had a
wife or children and feels his life hasn't really been
fulfilled, the veteran theorized.
According to the captain, some of the men want
to marry Vietnamese girls and take them stateside.
The red tape required to get them out of the country
is tremendous, though, he said.
"It is purposely designed to be as difficult as
possible to get them (the wives) out," the officer said.
But it can be done, he added.
The more effort the soldier has to put into it, he
said the more he may think of the consequences.
Men who get through the red tape and get their
fiancees out are usually those who are really serious
about their intentions, the man said.
UNL graduate student Tom Wrenholt, a veteran,
was separated from his wife Patty for a year by the
war and the Pacific Ocean. The two had been married
' about a year and a half when Tom left for Southeast
Asia in November ISS&
"It was hard for me at first after Tom left, being at
home by myself," Patty said. "You're kind of socially .
isolated-you really can't go out with the married
people or tne singie ones, ne auuj.
Shortly after Tom left, his wife wrote and told
him they were going to have a baby. Patty said she
continued working until the day before their
daughter was born. ......
Tom's wife went to meetings of the Lincoln
Waiting Wives Club, which had about 50 members in
1969. She said the club had speakers, went on picnics
and gave wives an opportunity to socialize.
Frith will discuss reclamation
The regular monthly meeting of the Bluestem
Group of the Sierra Club will be held at the
Bennett-Martin Library at 7:30 p.m. Monday. March
20, and will feature Charles R. Frith, a fish and
wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries
' and Wildlife, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Frith will discuss the effects of the proposed
Mid-State Reclamation Project on the wildlife of the
Platte River Valley.
In addition to Frith's talk, the Sierra Club film,
'The Grand Canyon" will be shown.
cbiu
n n
editor i.i chief brry pilger
nv.naqinq editor i" 9rV
news ed-lor bart becker
ad martagt bill carver
- coordinator ! haussler
The Daily Nebraskan is written, edited and
managed by students at the University of
Nebraska -Lincoln and rs editorially independent of
the University faculty, administration and student
body.
The Daily Nebraskan s published by the CSL
subcommittee, on publications Monday.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday throughout the
school year, except holidays and vacations.
Second class postage paid at Lincoln, Nebraska
68508.
Address: The Daily Nebraska '34 Mrbraska
Union Lincoln, Neb., 68508. Telephone
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PAGE 2
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1972
