Military family smiles through the tears

By Cliff Newell

The West Linn Tidings, Aug 21, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Vern Uyetake / West Linn Tidings

Sean Wall relaxes in his West Linn home with, from left, wife Melissa, and daughters Grace and Maggie before his deployment with the Navy.

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Around the spacious living room of Sean and Melissa Wall’s home in West Linn there hangs a long paper chain.

It loops around a painting and then makes its way past several windows and the doorway to the kitchen. Each link has a number written on it by their 13-year-old daughter Grace. It represents each day that Sean is gone while serving as a U.S. Navy officer in Bahrain.

That chain will have many more links because Sean will be serving as a lieutenant commander in the Middle Eastern island nation located west of Saudi Arabia for the next seven to eight months. On Monday at 0600 (military time) he left for duty, and at the Portland Airport he had to say goodbye to Melissa, Grace, 12-year-old Maggie, and sons John, 8, and Jack, 6. He was not anticipating that moment.

“There’s going to be more crying than I like,” Wall said. “I wish things could go more smoothly.”

Still, Wall will be the first to admit that he is luckier than many U.S. men and women serving in the Middle East as war rages in Iraq. He serves away from the scenes of fighting and dying, and he is working on mission intended to build trust and cooperation between Middle Eastern nations and the United States.

“This is our turn,” Melissa said. “Because Sean will be there that means other dads and moms can come home. I look forward to him coming home.”

Certainly, Melissa knows what U.S. Navy life is all about. Both of her parents were Navy officers and so was one of her brothers. Plus, on three previous occasions Wall has had to leave his family and serve at various spots around the globe. Melissa definitely likes Navy life.

“It has been an absolutely fabulous run,” she said. “We’ve lived in some neat places, we’ve had opportunities to travel. This has been a great, great chapter of our lives.”

Separation is also made easier by the miracle of Skype, which enables the family members to talk by Web cam.

“It’s hard because he’s gone,” Grace said. “But it’s not as hard as before because we can talk to him two times a day.”

“In the past we could only talk every couple of weeks,” Wall said. “We’ve really been spoiled by Skype. It’s made the last three months much more agreeable.”

While Wall is gone, Melissa and the kids won’t sit huddled and moaning in the living room.

“We’re an extremely busy family,” Melissa said. “I work and the kids have sports, activities and church. Our schedule requires a matrix. This fall it’s going to be especially challenging with four kids in soccer.”

As for support from their West Linn neighbors, the Walls’ cup overfloweth.

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