00:00Tampa Bay's Morning Crew want to honor and thank those who protect and serve our country.
00:05Time now for Military Monday on 99.5 QYK.
00:10It is Military Monday. We have Sarah on the phone with us. Good morning, Sarah. How are you?
00:15Good, thank you. How are you guys?
00:16We're doing great. So we get to honor your husband, Louis, today.
00:19Why don't you go ahead and tell us what branch he serves in and what his rank is?
00:23Sure. He is a U.S. Marine in the Marine Corps, and he is an E-9, which is a sergeant major in the infantry.
00:32Okay, and how long has he been in?
00:3424 years.
00:3524 years Marine right there. I love that.
00:38Love it.
00:39Love that. And I'm sure in those 24 years, he's been deployed a few times.
00:43Several. He has been on the infantry side. He started out as a mortar man before 9-11.
00:50He joined on his birthday three months before 9-11.
00:53And they sent him to Iraq, and he fought there.
00:56They sent him to Afghanistan 10 years after that.
00:59But he's also been deployed to Okinawa, the Middle East, Norway.
01:04And he just got back from Jordan, actually, a couple weeks ago.
01:08Oh, wow. Now, how long have you all been married?
01:11We've been together almost 15 years now.
01:13Okay, so this has been a part of your life, too.
01:15As a wife of a Marine, you've gone through these deployments with him, right?
01:21Absolutely.
01:21Tell me about that.
01:23I mean, we hear about how tough it is, but how do you keep yourself positive?
01:27It's been tough, especially, I think, for the military spouse.
01:30And, you know, anyone who's a military spouse knows you have to create your own family everywhere you go.
01:37So we've had 13 houses in 15 years.
01:40Oh, my gosh.
01:41And it's been a ride.
01:43We have four kids.
01:44And for three of their births, he was not able to be there due to the military.
01:51The last deployment, he was gone most of 2021, and I was with the four kids, and it was rough.
01:59So just taking 20 minutes to go take a bath or read a book every day, working out every day, that's just basic survival that you need to get through the deployments.
02:12And then having your group of friends, which is going to be, you know, your new family.
02:17Sarah, you sound inspirational just right there.
02:20So, I mean, it's amazing what you've been through as well.
02:24What are some things that Lewis likes to do when he's not working and he's not serving?
02:28Oh, my gosh.
02:29He's so fun.
02:30He picked up disc golf around when COVID happened.
02:34Okay.
02:35The only thing we could do was go, you know, hang outside.
02:37Sure.
02:37So he started getting into disc golf, and it's like, it's a whole cult.
02:41It's a whole other world.
02:42And so every day, if he can go before work, he goes.
02:46That's his thing.
02:47He loves it.
02:48He loves to read.
02:49We love to travel if we can and go visit our family.
02:53They're in other states.
02:55Yeah.
02:56And he actually grew up here in Clearwater.
02:58Okay, nice.
02:59We sort of made a circle.
03:00There you go.
03:01Yeah, absolutely.
03:01Started out 24 years ago, and now we're back.
03:04How old are your kids?
03:05They are 3, 5, 9, and 11.
03:09So you're not busy at all.
03:10Bless you, woman.
03:11No.
03:12No, and I homeschool them all, too.
03:14Oh, my gosh.
03:15Goodness gracious.
03:16How are you doing it?
03:18Well, you guys sound like an amazing family, and we are so glad we got to learn about Lewis
03:24and his 24 years of service in our Marine Corps, and we're so thankful for that.
03:28And, Sarah, we know that you've made so many sacrifices like we just talked about, and your
03:32attitude is just inspiring, and we love that.
03:36And so we're so glad you reached out, and we'd love to do this.
03:38We'd love to give you and your family a $100 gift card from our friends at Stingray Chevrolet.
03:43Again, this is a small way for us to say thank you so much for the sacrifices that you and
03:47your family have made.
03:49That was so nice.
03:49I really appreciate that.
03:50Absolutely.
03:51We're so glad you reached out.
03:53I mean, those are the stories right there that we love hearing, and we want to hear yours
03:57as well.
03:57If you want to nominate someone for Military Monday or First Responder Friday, you just
