Sign me up, Sgt. Major

I got married Dec. 30 of last year, and the Command Sgt. Major for our brigade was one of my groomsmen. His name is Sgt. Major Terry Cowan. His rank is the highest rank that can be achieved for U.S. military enlisted personnel. To climb that high in rank takes some men, tough men, up to 30 years. Sgt. Major Cowan did it under twenty. He is no-nonsense by anyone’s standards without being a jerk.

Back to my wedding though. I was putting on my tuxedo (that my wife picked out of course) and he casually asks me, “Hey Tressler, wanna go to Baghdad with me?” Now, he had brought this up before. Our unit had been put on ‘alert’ several times since 9/11 and mobilized once in 2003 with then-Col. Culver (now General Culver – that’s a pretty good rank, too).

So here’s what went through my head at that moment. I’m about to commit the rest of my life to this beautiful woman (photo at left), who I tricked into marrying me, and I’m leaving three weeks after the wedding to go to Fort Meade in Maryland for three months (she can’t go with me).

And after I return 6 weeks later, this crazy groomsmen of mine, who could ask any number of 2,000 other soldiers within the brigade, to go to the most dangerous place on earth with him asks me on my wedding day to go. Which essentially means I’ll see my bride for two months out of the first 18 months of our marriage. I reacted the way any straight-thinking soldier would, I looked him square in the eyes, swallowed and said “Hell yeah, Sgt. Major sign me up, twice!”

The tough part wouldn’t be the war. It would be telling my wife — after the wedding, of course.

– Sgt. Stephen Tressler

Sept. 2, 2007