I know what you......PERSEC

*True happenings from a our lives in 2004.*

Kids in bed, check. A glass of wine, check. My favorite show on, check. Phone next to me while I await my husband to call from half way around the world check. The makings of a perfect evening!

The phone rings and a husky unfamiliar voice says, "I can see what you are wearing." My heart begins to beat faster. I am fully clothed, but as I peek out my second floor apartment windows closing my blinds as I go, I wonder who is watching me. Then the scary voice, that sounds to me like the voice from "I Know What You Did Last Summer," said "I know your husband is gone." Shakingly I picked up my cell phone and began to call the Military Police, they answer and I tell the MP's in a whisper what is going on. They advise me to stay on the phone for as long as I can so the Military Police track where the call came from. The creepy voice then begins to tell me what his plans for me are, I cry and scream "I am calling the cops," he hangs up. The almost perfect evening became petrifing quickly. Later I find out that there have been many other wives with deployed husbands that have received similiar phone calls; nothing serious ever happened, with the exception of other brave women becoming scared of the night.

While the events of the night were not warranted and certainly not justified, I began to wonder if I had done anything to advertise my situation. My yellow ribbon sticker soon thereafter got ripped off of my vehicle. I became very careful to whom I mentioned that my husband was deployed- no more idle chit-chat in the supermarket check-out lane about the hardships of deployment on my family. While I doubt that the person that made the call was someone that I met at the store, how would they have gotten my number, I became more aware of the fact that these people could follow me home. I became more aware of what I posted on the internet.....I no longer made mention of: wanting my husband home or another birthday alone. While all of those things were still true, the phone call made me realize I wasn't protecting my family.

This post is a Public Service Announcement. Bad things can and do happen to good people- its the sad reality of the world. Take the necessary precautions to ensure you and your family is safe while your service member is deployed. Just like OPSEC (operational security) is enforced to protect our service members, we should enforce PERSEC (personal security) in our lives. Think twice before you throw on your "Half my Heart is in...." shirt, or before posting about your day with a countdown of the number of days until your service member gets home. Even before making small talk at the local store. Treat your personal security like you would your financial security. There are very few people that I would share my financial information with.