Klinger makes most of short break

By Rob Scott
The Daily Item

June 18, 2007 03:31 pm

— SUNBURY -- For most newlyweds, the honeymoon begins the day after the wedding. Bill and Stephanie Klinger have been married for 10 months and are still waiting to go on theirs.
A month after their wedding last September, Mr. Klinger, a Sunbury native, was deployed to Iraq. He returned last week for a brief respite and spent Sunday relaxing with family and friends.
"We're always on the go over there, so I wanted to get some downtime," he said.
He goes back to Iraq next week, where he serves as a specialist in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, riding around the deserts of Northern Iraq in an M1 Abrams tank.
Sitting on the back porch of his mother's boyfriend's home in a cutoff T-shirt and shorts, with his wife at his side, life was markedly different for Spc. Klinger Sunday afternoon than it has been for the past eight months.
But it was easy for him to settle back into the life of a civilian, he said. "I know a lot of people who are edgy (when they go back home). Fortunately that hasn't happened to me."
His wife said the best part of having him home was they were able to do all the normal things couples do, things they used to do before he was deployed.
"It's having someone to go out to eat with, to go food shopping with ... We just fell back into the routine we had before he left," she said.
Because his time is limited, he's trying to cram as much as he can into his two-week vacation.
"He wanted to go to our favorite pizza place, his favorite wing place," Mrs. Klinger said. They spent Saturday night at the River View Inn Bed & Breakfast on Front Street, where the owners put them up for free.
Each one of these dates is like a mini-honeymoon, she said. They've tried to make plans for their actual honeymoon before, but they had to change them so many times they eventually gave up.
"That's probably the worst thing about the Army," Spc. Klinger said. "You can never plan ahead."
As it is, they had to push their marriage up after they found out he was going to be deployed. But this is the life they chose and neither seems to regret it.
"I knew what I was getting into when I married him. I'm so proud of him," Mrs. Klinger said.
The 25-year-old soldier's deployment was as much a test for his wife as it was for his mother, Sandy.
"I pray for him every day." she said. The best part of his visit for her was "just knowing that he's here and he's safe ... Just sitting here, that's the best quality time you can spend."
She might not have gotten to see him if it weren't for her boyfriend, Joe Kurtz, who offered to pay for Spc. Klinger and his wife to fly up from their home in Round Rock, Tx.
"It's the best gift he gave me," she said of Mr. Kurtz.
Spc. Klinger, a 2000 Shikellamy graduate, and his wife fly back to Texas Tuesday and he returns to Iraq on the 25th. But right now, he's just grateful for the time he's been given.
"It's what I needed," he said with a smile, looking across the deck at the rest of his family. "Nothing can replace family, that's for sure."
In spite of the Army's tendency to crash his plans, Spc. Klinger has mapped out what he hopes will be his future. He plans to start training for an aviation job after he gets back from Iraq permanently at the end of the year. He and his wife are hoping that could eventually lead to him being stationed in Europe.
"I want to try and have the military teach me as much as I can before I get out," he said.
But before all that, there's still a honeymoon to take care of. And where do they plan to go?
"Somewhere tropical," he said. "Where we can go and not worry about anything."
n E-mail comments to rscott@dailyitem.com.

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