On Leaving a Soldier
Monday, March 01 2010
On Leaving a Soldier
Courtney Cook
It’s no secret that military service puts a great strain on marriages. In recent years, the divorce rates involving soldiers and Marines have spiked up, at the same time as civilian divorce rates are going down. Courtney Cook is a writer who recently tackled the taboo subject of leaving a soldier in wartime. Shortly after they met at Dartmouth College, Courtney and John were in love, pregnant, and married - in that order. Courtney can chart the major events of her twenties by her husband’s deployments - Haiti, Somalia, Korea and eventually Iraq in 2003. Before he left on that tour, Courtney told John it would probably mean the end of their marriage. They broke up through a series of letters while John was at war. As Courtney tells Dick Gordon, it’s an uncomfortable topic - but if we talked more about the effects of war on families, we might better understand the costs.
Booming Business: Iowa Wine
Ron Mark
We’ve been doing an occasional series of stories on parts of the economy that are working. Ron Mark’s business fits right in. His wine business is booming these days - but he is not located in Napa, Calif. He’s in Iowa. When Ron was a teenager growing up on an Iowa farm, a friend told him he could add yeast to the grapes his parents grew and make wine. That made Ron popular at parties, but it didn’t seem like a career. After a trip to Italy, his passion grew. In the late 80s, he started planting grapes. The result is Summerset Winery, a booming vineyard and one of Iowa’s first since prohibition.
- Learn more about Summerset Winery
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