Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage

217 Pages·2009·3.42 MB·English

by  Sophia Raday

Love in Condition YeLLow

Love in
Condition Yellow
A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage
Sophia Raday
Beacon Press
Boston
BeAcon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892
www.beacon.org
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2009 by Sophia Raday
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper
ANSI/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992.
Text design and composition by Yvonne Tsang
at Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Raday, Sophia
Love in condition yellow : a memoir of an unlikely marriage / Sophia Raday
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8070-7283-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8070-7283-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Raday, Sophia, 1964– 2. Wives—United States—Biography.
3. Married Women—United States—Biography. 4. Military spouses—
United States—Biography. I. Title.
HQ759.R236 2009
306.85092—dc22
[B] 2008046953
Most of the names and some details and characters in this work have been altered
for the sake of clarity and to ensure the privacy of individuals.
For B., who has a hero’s heart

For one human being to love another human being:
that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been
entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof,
the work for which all other work is merely preparation.
—rainer Maria rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
In White you are unprepared and unready to take lethal
action. If you are attacked in White you will probably die
unless your adversary is totally inept.
In Yellow you bring yourself to the understanding that
your life may be in danger and that you may have to do
something about it.
In orange you have determined upon a specific adversary
and are prepared to take action which may result in his
death, but you are not in a lethal mode.
In red you are in a lethal mode and will shoot if
circumstances warrant.
—Jeff cooper, Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries

ContentS
one Spark 1
tWo Reconnaissance 13
three Cultural Exchange 27
FoUr Behind Enemy Lines 34
FIve Individual Liberties 52
sIx Constructive Engagement 69
seven Allegiance 82
eIght State of Alert 98
nIne Preemption 106
ten Casualties 121
eleven Culture Wars 136
tWelve Drive On, Soldier, Drive On 159
thIrteen Quagmire 178
FoUrteen Hearts and Minds 184