The Interviews.....

Military deployment does not only affect the service member but the family as well. For the course project, I selected Kimberly Casto, a Navy wife, and Valentina Kennedy, a professional school counselor, to interview. Mrs. Casto has been married to her husband, Douglas Casto for twenty years. Douglas Casto serves the country in the U.S. Navy. Nine years ago, Mr. Casto was deployed for nine months on a Mediterranean Cruise while Mrs. Casto raised their twin children. Mrs. Kennedy is a professional school counselor for Charles County Public Schools. She has worked for nine years at school near a naval station. During her tenure, she has counseled students about parental deployment through group and individual sessions. She has counseled parents during pre-deployment and post-deployment and provided community resources to families.

I conducted both interviews on Wednesday, January 8th. I conducted a phone interview with Mrs. Kennedy. I have never personally met Mrs. Kennedy; however, she was recommended to me from my professional school counselor. I emailed her the questions prior to the interview, so she was familiar with them.  Since she was familiar with the questions, there was not a lot of down time as she formulated her answers.  The interview lasted approximately thirty minutes. After school, I interviewed Mrs. Casto in person. At the beginning of the interview, my instructional assistant and her son were leaving.  Mrs. Casto made a few comments about their relationship which led into a discussion about previous relationships.  After the small talk was completed, I began the interview.  I did not provide her with the questions prior to the interview, but she easily answered the questions.  The interview lasted approximately 40 minutes.  During the interview, I interjected my experiences which I did not do the previous interview .  Was this interview more relaxed due to the fact that I work with her or was it due to the fact that the interview was with a co-worker?  It was probably a combination of the both. 

Question: During both interviews, I had generated questions that did not easily follow the response from the previous question.  Sometimes, I was able to generate follow-up questions while other times, I stated the next question on the list.  While determining which action to take, there was an awkward silence. Did anyone have similar experiences?  How did you handle it? 

Key Point:  A key point from the interviews, Mrs. Casto said, "Some people aren't programmed for being a military spouse." When I asked her to elaborate, she stated, "A military wife needs to be strong, to be able to care for yourself, to trust their spouse, be loyal, and don't believe everything you hear."  She followed-up her response with advice from her mother who was a military wife as well: trust in your husband, trust in God and you'll be fine.