One of the sad by-products of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the difficulty faced by many military families of keeping marriages going in the face of repeated, lengthy deployments. When your husband...or wife...or mother is gone and in grave danger for months at a time, it can put a strain on the most solid of marriages. The services go to great lengths to provide support services and counseling to help couples stay together and children calm in a parent's extended absence, but military divorce rates are very high.
Some Army wives have taken a bit different approach to keeping their marriages fresh and their spouses interested in them, according to this New York Times article: To Keep the Home Fires Burning, Grab a Boa.
Yes, Ms Lily Burana, an experienced exotic dancer, writer, and Army wife, has started Operation Bombshell: she offers striptease classes for other Army wives. The object is twofold: to give lonely wives an outlet for their energies, and to provide the ability for the ladies to give their husbands a gift that says, "I'm waiting for you, I love you, and what you see is what you get." One wife commented, “When they first come home after a year away, you don’t really need burlesque...But maybe in a few months.”
Ms Burana said that the idea for Operation Bombshell came to her when she met a young Victoria’s Secret saleswoman who was wearing her deployed husband’s dog tags. “I had this bizarre wacky moment of divine inspiration to give these women an escape by doing what I do best,” she said.
Of course, a question remains: what is the equivalent course of instruction for nonmilitary men whose wives are deployed? I'm a pretty good ballroom dancer, but I probably wouldn't be able to do striptease particularly well, The Full Monty notwithstanding. What's a man to do? Perhaps take some gourmet cooking lessons?
It's one way to keep the pot simmering, after all.
Have a good day. Support the families of your deployed friends and co-workers.
Striptease optional.
More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Even though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I still sense a need for a screening process. I'd be more than happy to volunteer for that job.
ReplyDeleteI think we ought to fly the troops home once a month for a conjugal visit. We're already spending 10 billion a month for the so called war. What's another 2 or 3 hundred million to keep the troops happy?
ReplyDeleteI think the men should learn to take it off too.
ReplyDelete