Soldier loses leg, wife enlists to take his place

[unhappycamper]

Soldier loses leg, wife enlists to take his place
By Michelle Roberts - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Dec 8, 2007 8:17:59 EST

SAN ANTONIO — More than a year after infantryman Alejandro Albarran lost part of his right leg to a blast in Iraq, he still hasn’t decided whether he’ll stay in the Army.

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“After everything he’s gone through — and he loves the Army — he kind of inspired me,” said Janay Albarran. “I made him a promise that I would finish what he started.”

So, while he underwent five-day-a-week rehab to recover his balance and strength on a prosthetic leg at an Army rehabilitation facility here, she learned to shoot a rifle and stand in formation in boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Mrs. Albarran became Pvt. Albarran on Friday. The couple’s 2-year-old daughter is staying with a grandmother in Arizona.

Across the Army, roughly 24,000 soldiers, roughly 9 percent of the force, are married to other soldiers. There are no statistics on how many join after a spouse or family member is badly wounded in combat, but Maj. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, said she’s heard of siblings joining after the injury or death of a soldier and at least one woman who joined after her husband was killed in combat.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_armywifeenlists_071208/