By Michelle Seeber

Staff Writer



For the White family of Woodward being in the military the most natural thing in the world.

Both Billie and Tony White served in the U.S. Navy. Of their five children, two are in the U.S. Army and three are in the Army Reserves.

“I just think the military offers a lot of opportunities for anyone searching for their niche in life,” Billie, 56, said. “It matures them, teaches them responsibility, self confidence and makes them a more rounded person. They meet people from all around our nation and from all walks of life.

“It just makes them more aware,” she said. “People who have served in the military have a better sense of who we are and don’t take freedoms we have for granted.”

Of Billie’s and Tony’s children, two are men and three are women.

The men are the ones in the U.S. Army and the women are in the Reserves.

Carrie White, who is 27 and an identical twin to her sister, Carmen, said she joined the Reserves, because, “We’re a patriotic family. “Our brother Ty had already joined. It’s (about) the pride of being able to do something for our country, and I’ve been able to meet lots of people and see different places.

“I’ve been deployed twice to Qatar and Iraq for a month,” she said. “But, joining the military is a family thing. Not everyone serves their country.”

Carmen joined the Reserves at the same time Carrie did. She lives in North Carolina and works full time as a civilian at an Army hospital and attends school at night.

“I’ll graduate in December with a bachelor of arts degree in accounting,” she said.

Carmen and Carrie were both deployed to Qatar at the same time, they said.

“It made it easier because a lot of what you miss is your family,” Carmen said.

Carmen also joined the Reserves because the military seems to be a family tradition.

Of the Reserves, she said, people who serve “recognize allegiance to our country maybe more than others.”

Carmen plans to re-enlist on Monday.

Cristi White, 25, also joined the Army Reserves because her family is military oriented.

She is in school at Western Michigan University majoring in a pre-physician assistant program.

“I’ve been to Iraq, Honduras and Panama,” she said of her experience with the Reserves.

Asked if she had anything to share with the public, she said, “I think the best way to get an opinion on the war is to ask people who are in the service. The media only shows the bad. There’s a lot of good that goes with the bad.

“You have to support your troops,” she said, noting support included providing treatment for those who return home injured.

The three sisters’ brother, Ty, 29, said during his time in the Army, he has been deployed to Bosnia and Belize.

“I was in Bosnia for six months and Belize for four months,” Ty said.

While there, he was involved with communications for a medical team. He currently is learning how to fly a Black Hawk helicopter, and when he leaves the military, he hopes to get a job as a medevac pilot.

Torrey, 23, has been in the U.S. Army for five years.

“I joined because I wanted to do something different and travel,” he said.

He has served two years in Germany and was deployed to Iraq twice.

“Iraq wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I do communications, like my brother did. I had a lot of fun in Iraq.”

While Torrey felt an allegiance to the military, he doesn’t plan to make a full career of it.

“I would like to get a government job and get into a federal marshal program,” he said.

Of the five children, Cristi, Carrie and Carmen are staff sergeants. Ty is a warrant officer and Torrey is a sergeant.

Billie, who was tearful about seeing her children this weekend, said it was the first time the entire family had been together in five years.

They were all home in Woodward as a birthday present to their mother.