Nate recalls, “Caeli and I had planned a small ceremony in August with a few family and friends. When she told me about having been diagnosed with cancer and the initial prognosis, I decided that I wasn’t going to waste a moment of time in marrying her.”
Nate knew what he was getting into. He served in the US Army in the early ’90’s with deployments to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. After leaving the Army, he transitioned into a career in law enforcement where he’s spent the last 20 years. Nate knew what he was committing to by becoming a military spouse. He was ready for the challenge.
“I was prepared to deal with Caeli’s potential for deployment and the hardship that would come with it. Both professions (law enforcement and military) deal with more than enough missed family outings, holidays, special events and companionship due to the demands of the respective careers.”
Nate flew into Midland, TX (he had to get a rental car from there) on the very the next available flight from Las Vegas. But he wasn’t the only one planning a wedding. As word spread around the base of Caeli’s diagnosis and expedited nuptials, the entire 17 Training Group and 17 Training Wing went into full wedding mode.
There was going to be a wedding, even if it had to be in the hospital an hour before her surgery.
Fellow commanders in the group and wing commander, Col. Kimberly Joos rushed out of their quarterly awards banquet to meet Caeli at the hospital – with a quick change into dress suits and ties. Caeli’s boss, Col. Brendan Harris and his wife Becky, brought sparkling cider, cookies and flowers for her use at the reception. Col. Harris became the impromptu ring bearer and stand in best man. Maj. Michael Quirk, and his wife Tiffany, brought a sport coat and tie for Nate to wear at ceremony along with something borrowed and blue – a topaz necklace for Caeli to wear.
The 315 TRS showed up by the dozens to the hospital chapel. A sea of ABU’s, the small room began to overflow. The Shirt, MSgt Brandon Welton, had extraordinary wedding planning skills. He was instrumental in having the right people from the legal office and Force Support Squadron on hand to make a wedding happen- from filling out an affidavit for a marriage license to arranging Military Personnel Section to make a trip to her hospital bed to fill out important paperwork like SGLI, vRED and DEERS enrollment for Nate.
