Detailing the complex personal challenges Army wives face, journalist Biank goes beyond the sound bites and photo ops to show what their life is really like. Biank describes what it means to be a wife and mother in a subculture that is in a constant state of readiness for war. Army wives were in the headlines in the summer of 2002 after Biank broke the story about four Army wives who were brutally murdered by their husbands in the span of six weeks at Fort Bragg. By that autumn, Biank, an Army brat herself, realized the untold story of Army wives lay in the ashes of that tragic and sensationalized summer. She knew the truth--wives were the backbone of the Army. They were strong--not helpless--and deserved more than the sugarcoating that often accompanied their stories in the media.--From publisher description.