Meet the Members Monday- Rachel W

Hello! My name is Rachel and my fiancé is Wells Weymouth, an Army MS1.

We met at a party freshman year of college (it can happen) at the University of Florida, started dating before our sophomore year and have been together over four years now. In school I studied advertising and Spanish while Wells was pre-med. We have done a lot of traveling together but still consider Florida home.  The DC area is a great place to live but we miss our beaches and are still getting used to the concept of seasons!

While Wells is not prior service, he did do ROTC in college so we always knew he would be doing medical school with the military, whether it was through USUHS or not. Although not anything like being active duty, it did give me insight into the military world and I feel the experience helped me adjust to being a military spouse up here.

In the year between graduation and medical school, Wells and I lived in New Zealand for nine months while he was on a Fulbright scholarship and did some research in Antarctica.  That was an amazing experience in a beautiful place that left us with a plethora of entertaining stories from earthquakes to living in a campervan to my job as a dancing popsicle (just ask sometime). After that experience of moving to a foreign place with no family, friends or job, I feel I am ready to take on being stationed just about anywhere (except for maybe Georgia!). Now back in the states, I have just recently secured my first ‘big girl’ job working for a non-profit in Bethesda and have kept my dancing background alive with weekly Flamenco classes!

As our wedding is less than two months away (over spring break), most of my free time has been taken up with all of the planning! I have been able to get involved though and have enjoyed helping design for the SSC Wounded Warrior run and getting to know a lot of members! I look forward to meeting more and getting to know everyone better. This is a great group of dedicated and caring people!

Meet the Members Monday- Melissa M

 Hi Everyone!  My name is Melissa Mistretta, and I have been married to MSII Steven Warner for 4.5 years.  I grew up in Greenville, Wisconsin, while Steve grew up in San Jose, California.  We met when I was an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, and he was a cadet at West Point.  We were each on our respective school’s debate team and had to debate against each other.  He won the initial encounter, but lost every other debate we had over the next year and a half (and as we like to joke, every debate since then as well).

Steve was prior service before West Point, so I graduated a year before him and headed to Cornell University to pursue my PhD in Government.  We married the next year after he graduated from the Academy, and he went off to BOLC at Ft. Sill while I returned to graduate school.  Eight months later I took a leave of absence from Cornell and moved to join him at Ft. Drum, NY.  From there, he deployed to Iraq, while I stayed and led the Company FRG (Family Readiness Group) and traveled around the northeast judging for and coaching the West Point debate team.  It was my first experience with the military, and at times a very challenging one, but I met some wonderful people during our time there, including my next-door neighbor who became my best friend.  While our husbands were deployed we took a vacation to Argentina together and trained for a half-marathon, which we ran in September after Steve returned.

            I was thrilled to move to Maryland when Steve decided to go to medical school.  Last winter was the most mild winter I’ve ever experienced, and I love living so close to DC, though I don’t get down there often enough.  We love to catch a show at the Kennedy Center or a game at Nationals Park whenever possible.  I also love traveling, baking and photography.  I currently work at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation’s corporate headquarters in Bethesda, and continue to travel on weekends with the West Point Debate team.  After debate season ends in early March, I look forward to training for the SSC Wounded Warrior 5k!

Meet the Members Monday- Paige A

My name is Paige Allen, I am 25 years old and am married to Thomas Allen who is an MS2 prior service in the Navy. We recently got married this past December in St. Lucia, so we are still enjoying our ‘newlywed’ status! Tom and I are both from Boise, Idaho where we met in 2008 when we were attending Boise State University for our undergraduate degrees. He returned to Boise after his 5 year enlistment of being a corpsman stationed in Bridgeport after being deployed twice.

Since receiving my undergraduate degree in Anthropology, I have lived in Colombia, worked at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, and worked briefly in India for a United Nations entity. After, I completed two Master’s degrees at Seton Hall: an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations and M.A. of Public Administration. After graduate school I went to Iraq for a year to work on my Master’s thesis work and open the Civil Society Development Institute.  Needless to say, my spouse was quite patient during my travels and we decided it was time for me to come to D.C. and actually be an ‘in person’ partner! I have now been in D.C. since last June and have been doing international development consultation work. Since being in D.C., I have also been named editor of a magazine called Terms of Reference that features stories of international and humanitarian aid workers around the globe. Through these travels I have learned to speak Spanish, French, Portuguese and Kurdish.

 

Tom and I have bonded over shared hobbies such as triathlon training (swimming, biking, and running), hiking, camping, fishing, kayaking, cooking, backpacking and any new adventures. We also share a love for travel that we try to fulfill at every chance possible whether it is road trips to other states or trips across the globe.

While Tom has been gone on rotations, I have been staying busy(er) by helping organize the Wounded Warrior Run and making amazing friends through the SSC!

Meet the Members Monday- Katherine R

Hi! We are John, Katherine, Kylan and Bella (the dog) Richardson. We are expecting our second child this summer and just found out today that he is a boy (name TBD)! My husband is an MS-III in the Air Force, but has nine years prior service as an Army Officer. He served as a Blackhawk pilot and spent two deployments totaling 2.5 years in Iraq doing search and rescue missions. We decided to make the switch to Air Force in hopes of shorter deployments and a bit more family support as we experienced some very difficult days during our Army service. So far, we have been incredibly impressed with the supportive environment at USUHS.

We met at a bar in Raleigh, NC (where I’m from) while he was stationed at Fort Bragg. I had just graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and had been accepted to a Ph.D. program in Pittsburgh, so my parents were thrilled when I came home and told them I met this guy in a bar who was eight years older than me, a soldier from Texas, drove a huge truck and lived in a trailer. But, eight years later we are happily married, have sold the truck, moved out of the trailer and they realize that he is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I have completed two Master’s degrees (Speech-Language Pathology and Music). After three years working on a Ph.D. in voice disorders, I took a leave of absence so John and I could live together since we’ve spent about half of our relationship living apart. Since then I have worked clinically as an SLP, mainly in sub-acute care. I’d been toying with the idea of medical school for many years and finally decided to go for it. I found out this fall that I’ve been accepted to USUHS!

John and I love traveling and all things active. I also enjoy cooking, drinking wine (when I’m not pregnant), reading, and music. Voice is my primary instrument (opera), but I also play the piano, violin and guitar. We are away on rotations until June, but look forward to being home and hope this baby stays put in my belly until we get back!