Under The Sabers: The Unwritten Code Of Army Wives (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
Quite honestly, I bought this because it’s the book the Lifetime TV series “Army Wives” is based upon. It was pure research (with a heavy dose of envy thrown in). I had one of those “if SHE can turn her book into a TV series, so can I, dammit!” moments. I had wrongly assumed Tanya Biank was a first time author who got lucky while I, an English major with dozens of published books to my credit, toiled away in obscurity.Boy, was I wrong. It turns out Biank is a reporter based in Fayetteville, NC who has not only covered the military beat for the local paper there for years, but has also been embedded with deployed troops all over the world. The second surprise was the subject of the book and her motivation for writing it.During the summer of 2002, 4 Fort Bragg Army wives were murdered by their husbands during a 6 week period. In this post 9-11 era when troops surged into the middle east and the entire country mourned, it seemed to Biank that this story needed to be told, and told by more than just a short article in the local paper for each of these women killed.I will copy here the passage from the book that has stuck with me most. Remember this is Biank writing her own opinion so don’t email me. I’m not saying I agree or disagree, just that it made me think.--------------Begin Quote---------Everyone I met who knew Bill Wright extolled his virtues: great father, husband, and NCO. Even the cops had compassion for him. It was harder, in this town at least, for me to find people who had compassion for the wife he had just murdered.To many at Bragg it was Bill Wright who was the victim, the politically incorrect point of view that was never part of any media coverage, including my own. At the time I never asked the one unthinkable question: Did she deserve what happened to her? The question seemed absurd. Since I didn’t ask it, I couldn’t learn what I know now. More than a few soldiers who either knew the Wrights or had heard about the case later told me, “She got what she deserved.” Or “She had it comin’.” These quick-trigger outbursts (they were never said casually) always caught me off guard. To understand the root of such venom, I thad to take a step back and realize that these men identified more with Bill Wright the patriot, Bill Wright the war vet and family man, than they did with his supposedly cheating wife. An unfaithful Army wife might as well be a terrorist, soldiers hate them that much. Soldiers tend to consider infidelity as a personal slight on their own manhood. When a woman cheats on a buddy, she is desecrating not only her husband but also the flag and all those in uniform. Of course none of this applies when soldiers cheat on their wives.Rumors of Jennifer Wright’s alleged affairs had been flowing through her husband’s unit for a long time before her death. And in the Army rumors are as good as reality; here perceptions are reality. Sadly Jennifer Wright has never been able to defend her reputation. In the end the ‘great’ father had orphaned his three boys. ~from Under the Sabers page 2-3-----------------Those few paragraphs have stuck with me since the day I read them and dog-eared the page. Biank goes on to inform the reader that of the 4 wives murdered by their husbands, 3 of those 4 husbands killed themselves afterwards. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, those same 3 men were Special Forces. She explains that back in 2002 they investigated everything they could think of to explain this phenomenon. Was it the malaria injections these men had been given before deploying? Had the Army turned them into trained killers who no longer valued human life? What didn’t fit was the thousands of other men who received the same injections and the same training who choose NOT to kill their wives (affairs or not).What Biank concludes is this–the Army doesn’t cause marital problems, but when those problems exist they are easily magnified by the stress of long separations, money problems, frequent moves and the perceived stigma which prevents military families in emotional turmoil from seeking help for fear it would negatively affect their careers. Not that I feel at all qualified to render an opinion, I agree with her conclusion.
I read this book because my husband met the sister of the author. And honestly, the tv show is one of our guilty pleasures (that we try to hide from friends....). The show has just enough authenticity to keep us watching the silliness.I can't really write out a good review of the book, because I'm torn. On one hand, it was a fairly good representation of some of the "quirks" about Army life. (obviously not the murders--I'm talking about other things) But even though the author was raised in the Army, has a sibling who is career Army, and now has married into it, she has an undertone to her writing that is negative. There are a couple of instances where she adds an unnecessary, snide remark about something. For instance, when discussing the fact that junior enlisted soldiers sometimes (she says often) take second jobs to be able to support their families, she adds a remark something like, "I wonder why we never see Privates with pizza delivery boxes on recruiting posters." Ludicrous, obviously, but also not necessary. We all got the point in the paragraph before about how little they make compared to NCO's and officers. I may be defensive on this issue, but I feel like there is a certain line that shouldn't be crossed when discussing military life with civilians. Simply because there is no way to fully describe the military life. No matter how much detail is given, there will be much that is left out. And a civilian who has nothing to draw on besides the words you gave them cannot truly understand what the life gives-and takes. Just reading the reviews on this site makes that obvious. Overall, a "real" story. But I still found myself cringing several times at the harm it could do to the impressions of what is really a pretty great way of life.
What do You think about Under The Sabers: The Unwritten Code Of Army Wives (2006)?
I read this book initally because I enjoyed the television series. It was nothing like the series though and very disappointing really!It is written by journalist Tanya Biank after a seires of 4 murders carried out on an army base "Fort Bragg" in America over the course of one Summer. It tells the story of the wives of the army officers over the course of a year, and they're eventual deaths at their husbands hands.It was Ok but I did find it a bit sickly sweet at times, the discriptions of the feelings between the couples etc. We were told about the clothes they wore, the cars they drove and the type of furniture in their houses!! All a bit much I felt.The author jumped around the story a bit too much for my liking, back and forth, which was a little confusing, telling about her own time in the Army and her own opinions on the officers and their spouses.The book was alright but I can only score it 3 stars as it wasn't a book you could get your teeth into. I do not think I would read another of Tanya Bianks books if I am honest.
—Penny
I don’t watch TV so never saw the show “Army Wives.” I was searching for a book to fulfill a reading challenge for an online book group, and this title popped up. I thought it was going to be a sort of chick-lit romance. It’s not what I expected … it’s MUCH better. This is a nonfiction account of four women married to men stationed at Fort Bragg NC. It covers two years beginning in Dec 2000 in the lives of these families. But what happens has ramifications for the military and for the entire American populace. The Sept 11 terrorist attacks occur during this period, and as a result, men and women in uniform are being deployed overseas. There’s uncertainty and chaos, especially for the military families. They are under increasing stress; the kind of stress that exacerbates the problems that affect some of their already strained relationships. Biank is, herself, the daughter of a career Army officer, and the wife of an officer as well. She was already covering the military beat for the Fayetteville Observer when these events unfolded. Her background gave her insight into the military, as well as access. She personally knew some of the soldiers and their families. She treats the women with respect, and yet casts a brutally honest eye on their stories, revealing strengths and flaws equally.
—Book Concierge
First off, let me say this very clearly: This is NOT the book of the TV series. A lot of people seem to think it is; the TV series is loosely based on this book. If you've seen the series you will be able to recognize aspects of the characters from these real women, but it's important to remember that they are not the same.This non-fiction book, written by a journalist living in the area who grew up an Army brat, gives an interesting insight into the reality of Army life from the wives' viewpoint. Biank gives the story of 4 Army wives: how they came into the Army family, the specific problems they faced in their different roles, and the challenges of balancing the job of "supportive spouse" from the military side with being a good wife (or mother) in the family.She also covers some details of a spate of murder-suicides in Fort Bragg, touching on a few theories but making it plain that she thinks a major factor was the lack of marital support from the military (and possibly the husbands' fear of counseling damaging their career).I can't speak to realism for myself, but I've seen other reviewers agree that this is a fairly good depiction of Army life, and even suggesting that all potential Army wives should read this before committing themselves.
—Hilary
