I Gave My Wife Every Out Before My Deployment


This blog post is about my wife, Codie Sanchez.

Before my last deployment, I told her something that might surprise you:

“I know we’ve been dating and having a great time, but I don’t want you to worry about me. If you want to live your own life while I’m gone, I understand. We’ll reconnect when I return.”
This ties into ideas I shared in Contrarian Thinking Capital.

She looked at me like I’d lost my mind and said:

“What the hell is wrong with you? We’re in this together.”

And she stood by me through my fifth deployment. We spoke whenever we could. We exchanged letters, packages, and notes. Even from a distance, we stayed deeply connected—and in many ways, we rediscovered each other. It was something special, and she deserves so much credit for that. Late nights, early mornings—she never failed to reach out.

It meant everything to me. I could stay focused because I knew I had someone waiting at home—someone I wanted to build a future with.

We often talk about risk, but the greatest risk you’ll ever take is choosing who you spend your life with. And I never doubted she was that person for me.

She believed in me when it would have been easier to walk away.

P.S. I still spend most days trying to keep up with her. Forever grateful for that.

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