Meet the Members Monday- Angie D

Hello SSC Members,

Angie Dunn, here. I was asked to introduce myself to this wonderful organization by your friendly Publications Editor, Ms. Yoder. So a “few” years ago I met a soldier, fell in love (a terrible affliction, by the way) and then I married him! I’m still crazy about Noel! He is my number one supporter and the one who challenges me to do better. I love him for that! We have two terrific kiddos- Amelia and Mark, ages 20 months and 2 months (yeah our house is a bit chaotic!). Noel is in the Class of 2015, his branch of service is, you guessed it, Army. We’ve been associated with the Army for some time- Noel was commissioned in 2001. We’ve lived in such exotic locations as Ft. Hood, TX, Ft. Benning, GA, Ft. Bragg, NC, and Ft. Lewis, WA. At each installation, Noel served as a leader, alongside his soldiers on the ground. I had the privilege of knowing his men and their families and came to care deeply about their well-being as if they were my own family. I suppose the gain of those kinds of relationships made up for the perceived “losses” of military life, namely the consequences of frequent moves. But I don’t dwell too much on the negative and found a way to have the kind of life I wanted, you might say despite, but I would say because of the military.

About the time Noel deployed again to Iraq, I got into medical school out in Washington (state). I was very much a part of the military family, and I thought if he could have all the fun, I might as well, too. So I joined the Army in 2008. He deployed and I went to officer’s basic leadership course in San Antonio (where a lot of your spouses had to go before they started medical school). And when I wanted to complain about the heat, and the MRE’s, and the blisters on my feet, I’d think about how Noel was probably much less comfortable wherever he was. (But I still complained a little, it was freaking hot!) A few years later during my third year of med school our daughter was born and a few months later we moved out to DC. I pieced together my rotations with local physicians, gave birth to our son and voila! I am now an intern (a physician fresh out of medical school) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The life I wanted because of the military. This is over the word limit so- give a shout if you have questions (angeladunn137@yahoo.com) about any of the above Army posts, want to talk career/kids/moving/weather in San Antonio! Happy to help those in this great USU-SSC organization!