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Women's Entertainment (WE) network's newest drama "Army Wives" is pulling in record ratings. The show is based on the nonfiction book "Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives" by Tanya Biank and focuses on the lives of several army families as they experience life on an army base dealing with loved ones in various phases of their army careers. The five main characters of the program consist of four army wives and one army husband :

1) Claudia Joy, the wife of a high-ranking colonel at the base who takes a leadership role among all the army wives.

2) Denise, the wife of a major who is deployed, then goes missing after his chopper is shot down; their teenage son also happens to be physically violent to her.

3) Pamela, a wife whose husband is part of the Delta Force unit which must keep all activities secret including when and where they will leave for duty; she is a former police officer who left her job to be a full time army wife.

4) Roxy, the newly married wife of a private first class who is adjusting to life on the army post.

5) Roland, a civilian psychiatrist husband of a lieutenant colonel who returns from duty experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome

These five characters are drawn together through a series of incidences and despite the differing ranks of their spouses they form a close bond. During one of the episodes, the concept of the unwritten code among army wives is explained no matter how they feel about another army wife they should always support each other.

Without being political about the current situation in Iraq, this drama gives you a sense of what it must be like as the family of a soldier dealing with their absence and then seeing the changes that can occur after they have been to war. You are shown that army wives not only struggle with the fear of their spouses dying, but also fear that they might return from war a changed and broken person, either physically and/or mentally. One episode explores the harsh reality of what a family must do when the army spouse dies. They are no longer allowed to live on the army base and must leave, giving up the security of the home that has been provided for them.

The acting and the scripts in "Army Wives" are excellent and you are drawn in by the realism and relevance of the military story line. I highly recommend this show and hope that it will continue on for several years to come.

Learn more about this author, Molly Jasinsky.
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