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By the first of June, life was getting complicated for Capt. Maria Coppola. The Air Force nurse was being transferred from Scott Air Force Base to Wright-Patterson in Ohio. That permanent change of station - the military term for such an uprooting - was still several weeks away, but Maria knew she should start organizing the move. With three kids - the youngest just about to turn 2 - and a husband in Iraq, she couldn't allow herself much time to relax.

Besides, this was going to be a special move. Maria and her husband, Louis, had decided not to live on base at Wright-Patterson. They were going to buy a house. Their school loans were nearly paid off, and interest rates were low. Why not own something? But then Louis, a first sergeant in the Army Reserves, had gotten called to active duty and was sent to Iraq. So house-hunting, too, had become the sole responsibility of Maria.

In early June, she packed the kids and the family Labrador retriever into the car and headed to Ohio to look for a house. She found one. That was the good news. But something very unsettling happened during that trip to Ohio. Maria fell down. Not just once, either. She fell a couple of times.

"I'm young, and healthy, and I work out, and I'm suddenly falling for no reason," she said. "Something was wrong."

When she returned to Scott, she had an MRI, and was sent to see Dr. Kenneth Smith, a neurosurgeon at St. Louis University Medical Center. She had a ruptured disc, and it was pressing on a nerve. She risked permanent damage if the disc was not separated from the nerve and removed. She needed surgery that day.

Her husband was with a transportation unit at a little outpost about 60 miles south of Baghdad. In the middle of nowhere. But out of touch? Not in this day and age. He and his wife communicated daily by e-mail, and they talked by cell phone before and after surgery, which, by the way, went well.

Now, though, life was really complicated. Louis was in Iraq, Maria was in the hospital and the kids were with a baby-sitter.

But today's military is prepared for this sort of thing. Thirty-five years ago, when the draft was in force, the military was mostly young, single and male. Now there are a lot of married couples, and sometimes both spouses are in uniform. Consequently, military couples are required to have a Dependent Care Plan, both short and long term. In the case of the Coppolas, the care providers were Maria's brother and his wife. Before Maria went into surgery, her brother and his wife were notified. They immediately drove here from their home in Dayton.

Also, Maria and Louis began the paper work - e-mails, actually - for an emergency leave for Louis. The Red Cross acts as the conduit for that. Maria was dealing with the Red Cross here, and Louis was dealing with the Red Cross in his part of the world, and everything went smoothly. The first flight to Kuwait was grounded by a sandstorm, but not for nothing does Louis work in transportation. He hitched a ride with a convoy, and he arrived in St. Louis five days after Maria's operation.

Originally, he was given a 10-day leave, but because Maria is still too weak to take care of the whole household, his leave has been extended, and he'll be able to help the family move into their first real home. Such a blessing.

For now, then, the family is together. Morgan is 11, Alexandria is 8 and Quinton just turned 2. Being together makes moving a little easier. Still, it can be emotional. Maria understands that. She was an Air Force brat herself. But if moving is part of the service life, so are complications.

In early August, Louis heads back to Iraq. He could be there for six months. He could be there for two years. Maria, meanwhile, will be training in an Air Force intensive care unit. She doesn't expect to be in Ohio for long.

"I'll be deployable by Christmas," she said, and she sounded, I thought, almost cheerful.

E-mail: bmcclellan@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8143

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