Fort Bragg spouses find friends on Internet

By Paula M. Fitzgerald/ParaglideFebruary 12, 2010

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Military life isn't easy, especially for the Families of Soldiers. The endless cycle of deployments and training can cause stress for even the most seasoned Army spouse.

However, spouses don't have to go it alone thanks in part to social networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.

Alicen Rodolph and Bridge Scott, both wives of Soldiers training to be Green Berets, became fast friends through Facebook. The two met briefly at a job interview in Fayetteville and decided to keep in contact with the aid of the social networking site. In the process, the two women found more young spouses looking for friends who could understand the trials and tribulations of living the Army life.

"I started my Facebook page a few years ago to keep in touch with my Family and friends because I was moving around so much," Rodolph explained.

After she married her Soldier husband, Rodolph found that Facebook was an excellent forum to meet other spouses in the Fort Bragg community.

"We decided at the job interview that we should keep in touch," she said. "I asked Bridget if she had Facebook because I'm not good at keeping in touch with people with the phone. We became pretty good friends since then."

Scott is happy to keep the company of women who share a lifestyle similar to hers, and she probably couldn't have found a more compatible friend than Rodolph. The two women are in their early twenties, are married to future Green Berets and would prefer to raise dogs rather than kids - for now anyway.

"It's just hard sometimes because my husband is gone a lot," Scott said. "My Family lives in Texas, and the Army is definitely not a nine-to-five sort of job. It's hard to stay positive, so it's really nice to have Alicen and the other ladies to talk to on Facebook or if we all go out together."

Both Rodolph and Scott agreed that social networking sites allow spouses to rely on each other.

"When the other girls have husbands that are gone, we all try to keep each other going. We stay busy and look out for one another," Rodolph added.