Dalton and I first met in the fall of 2014 when we took nearly every Spanish class together at SDSU. What started out as friends and project partners quickly turned into lifelong partners. Dalton was already in the Army when I met him, joining in 2011 at just 17 years old. I remember his mother telling me how emotional it was for her to give parental consent for him to join before 18, but she knew how important it was to him and it was something he always wanted to do. One thing about Dalton is if he puts his mind to something, it will be accomplished. After completing basic training the summer before his senior year, Dalton decided to pursue college and join the ROTC program at SDSU, where he graduated with a degree in Global Studies and commissioned as an officer in December 2016.

Following graduation, Dalton was stationed at Fort Benning in Columbus, GA. There, he completed Air Assault, Airborne and Ranger School (graduating October 2017). Ranger school lasted from June-October, which consisted of three main phases - land, mountain and swamp. He ended up getting cellulitis while out there and had to re-do a couple phases, which was really hard on him, but no doubt, he passed and graduated. Perhaps the hardest part of Ranger school wasn’t just the physical exhaustion, but rather lack of sleep on top of the rigorous exercises. He told me if he got 45 minutes of sleep a night, he was good.

At this time, I was still finishing up college at SDSU. A couple years went by and the Army’s next move brought him to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. I graduated in May 2018 and we got married on his family farm in Clear Lake, South Dakota on July 7, 2018 during his two week summer leave. Three months after marriage, Dalton was deployed to South Korea for nine months.

Shortly after he got home, we found out we were expecting and had our first baby, Noah, in April of 2020. With COVID creating odd situations, we found ourselves working from home and questioning what we wanted our future to look like. Dalton started and completed his Master’s in Construction Management online during this time while still serving active duty. After lots of pondering and prayer, we decided to move back home to South Dakota.

By June 2021, we returned to the Brandon/Sioux Falls area where Dalton transitioned to the South Dakota Army National Guard. We welcomed our daughter, Millie, in April of 2022. Today, he is the HHC 153rd EN BN Company Commander in Huron, South Dakota. For his civilian job, Dalton works as a project manager for a construction company in Brandon and, because he wasn’t busy enough, he just began the MBA program (online) through USD. He doesn’t stop, but that’s what I love about him.

He still leaves for a minimum of two weeks every year for annual training and one weekend a month for the Army, but one thing being a military spouse has taught me is that I am capable. I’m capable of still creating memories and going places with the kids, even if Dalton can’t be present and it’s a little harder to get them to listen to me. In fact, we try to stay as busy as possible when he’s gone to avoid feeling the void. I’m capable of asking for help from family and friends when I know it’s too much. I’m capable of still putting my daughter to bed, even when she’s a huge daddy’s girl and asks for him numerous times before finally settling for me to rub her back. We adapt, we grow and we persevere. Even though it’s hard sometimes, I wouldn’t change anything. We are proud to be an Army family.

- Ingrid DeBoer