Brigid Brannagh Interview – Page 2
How have career-minded military wives reacted to your character?
I have met a lot of military wives who may have one piece or another piece of Pamela. But it’s that general heart and hardiness that is most common in all military wives. I don’t think you can be weak and do that. You have to have a pretty strong spirit to deal with your husband leaving all the time and the different things that go along with being a military spouse, and I think you have to have a hell of a sense of humor. There are these gals Jodie and Leslie, and Mandy. I’ve met so many great wives – most of them Army because of the show – hanging out and I’ll say to them, “I don’t know how you do it” and I really don’t. I will be doing scenes where I think about my fake husband leaving and I get mushy. My own husband left today for just three weeks and I’m totally crying. Apparently, I am not as resilient as I think I am. l tell all these great wives that I meet, “I don’t know how you do it,” and they’ll say, “You could do it. You could do it if you needed to. If you had to, you would do.” I just love that. I love how strong they are. I have so much respect and admiration for them.
Had you had any exposure to the military growing up? Was there anyone in your family who had served?
My father is much older. He’s 74, but he served as a medic for a time, and all my uncles did. They are all from Ireland and when they came over, that (entering the military) was one of the first things they did. But we certainly didn’t have a military life by any stretch of the imagination. I have two cousins – ladies – who are both in the Army. One of them is married to another soldier. They are a full military family. Those would be the closest. I have another cousin who was in the Air Force for six years. My other cousins are career Army.
What has doing the series “Army Wives” taught you about military spouses and the military lifestyle that you did not already know?
It’s definitely changed my view. There were so many things I didn’t know before. I was brought up to be very grateful to those who serve our country and their families. But when you are not in that world, it is so private and it’s so specific only to life in the military - even reveille on post and the P/X. Those little things. Then there were things I didn’t realize, like how long the spouse would be gone. Spouses explained to me that often it would be harder when they came home for R&R, because it was easier to be gone fully and then back 100 percent opposed to being home and back and in between. That was something I hadn’t really thought of.
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