As most Americans gather today to enjoy their families and celebrate freedom, military families know July 4 is more than a day to barbecue and watch fireworks.
For the Truelocks, an Air Force family stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, this July 4 is not just a holiday. It’s the last holiday the family will spend together for the next 160 days.
Labor Day weekend, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day will all come and go as Master Sergeant Chris Truelock and his family are once again separated by thousands of miles.
Truelock is deploying to Afghanistan in the coming weeks and, as is becoming common practice, he is leaving his wife and three children behind. While the idea of spending the holidays apart may be daunting for some, the Truelocks see it as a way of life that they accepted a long time ago.
“It’s a lifestyle,” Nina Truelock said.
Her husband explained that his job differs from most in that he is deployed on a fairly regular basis.
“Not very many professional organizations have to leave their family for a year at a time or for six months at a time,” Chris Truelock said. “Pretty much everything goes on hold but you come back and things change but you try to keep it the same,” he said.
“We just try to keep it as normal as possible,” Nina said. “It’s the day-to-day routine. Normally, the kids are in school most of the year so that part of the day is taken care of. Then we’ve got soccer and Boy Scouts and whatever they’re doing at the time that you have to juggle back and forth. Between work, school, you just stay busy. Time flies.”
In his 22 years in the military, Truelock has been deployed so many times he has lost count. At this point, he has to name the countries out loud and count them off on his fingers. Sitting around their kitchen table on Tuesday, his wife and three children helped him name the places he has been deployed over the years.
“I’ve been to Kuwait and Iraq,” he said before his wife Nina mentioned Bahrain and Qatar. Their 12-year-old daughter Elizabeth, commonly known as “Lizzie,” added Turkey to the list as well.
As the family counts out loud, they realize Truelock will be leaving for his seventh deployment.
“I joined to get an education and experience,” Truelock said. “I’ve gotten both.”
Nina Truelock met her husband in Georgia when she was a student at Georgia Military College and Chris was stationed at a base nearby.
She said the idea of her husband deploying wasn’t something she mulled over, rather she accepted it as fact.
“It didn’t bother me at all,” she said. “My sister was in the Air Force, my dad was in the Air Force. Just…you’re gone. They’re going to leave. It was just part of it.”
Chris has deployed more in recent years, the most recent being a 15-month deployment to Turkey.
In their 17 years of marriage they have had three children, Josh, 14, Lizzie, 12, and Kaitlyn, 7, a brown-eyed little girl who doesn’t stray far from her father’s side.
While the family said they did not have specific plans for the July 4th holiday, the children said they just want to spend time with their father.
“I just want to go and have fun,” Josh Truelock said. His sister agreed, saying she looked forward to “just having fun outside playing.”
Sitting in her father’s lap, Kaitlyn said she didn’t like it when her dad deployed, saying it’s “not fun.”
Chris Truelock said that while he will enjoy the holiday, every day is quality family time as he prepares for another long separation.
“Every day is precious when you’re getting ready to deploy so I don’t know necessarily that the Fourth (of July) is going to be any different, other than it’s a day off from work that I can actually spend with my family. We’ll try to find something to do. There will be a lot of people out and about so we’ll try to partake in anything that’s going on.”
Nina said for her, this holiday has a little more significance, especially since her husband will be home to spend it with her.
“To a lot of people the Fourth of July is just a day off work,” she said. “It means more to us because lots of days he’s not here and he’s out defending our country. So the Fourth of July means a lot more to us. It’s more than just a day off.”
Even though being away from his family is difficult, the seasoned military man said he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I’ll serve as long as I can serve,” he said.
“My father served in the military, my grandfather served in the military. I guess it’s more of a family tradition and a way of life.”
“I’m in it for the love of the job.”
While he is an ocean away, Chris Truelock takes comfort in knowing his wife is at home manning the fort.
“She’s awesome. She’s the pillar of our family,” he said.
Nina is quick to say her husband is “strong and compassionate.”
“We’re close, we’re pretty tight-knit,” she said.
The love the family feels for each other is evident by the easy laughs and inside jokes that are passed around the kitchen table.
Looking at his children, a loving smile crosses his face.
“I’ve got it easy compared to her,” Chris said, looking at his wife. “Not very many would say Afghanistan is easy, but at home alone with these three? Afghanistan is easy.”
Before he leaves, Chris Truelove said he will tell his family the same thing he has said every time he leaves:
“Hold the fort down. I’ll be back.”
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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