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From Iraq to ‘I do’

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   MONTGOMERY — True love was guaranteed in the strangest of places for Christopher Witwer, a 1994 Montgomery High School graduate, and Kathryn Waits.
   The newly engaged couple’s commitment to marriage was made official when he proposed to her at Camp Victory in Baghdad this past May, at a military base that happens to be located on one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces.
   The two are captains and judge advocates serving with two Army divisions stationed in the devastated Iraqi capital, working in a legal capacity for the military. Before being reunited in Iraq the couple were occasionally separated by long distances.
   Their military work meant the two were stationed at different Army bases throughout the U.S.
   But with deployment to Iraq, Capt. Witwer got his chance, and he took it.
   After spending a day getting acclimated to the new environment in Kuwait, the Montgomery High graduate arrived in Baghdad, and to the arms of Capt. Waits on May 18.
   ”I waited a whole day to ask her,” Capt. Witwer admitted.
   The two met as they completed what’s known as the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School Officer Basic Course in May 2007.
   They underwent a three-month course of training at the center, located near the University of Virginia’s Charlottesville, Va., campus. Prior to their arrival in Virginia, Capt. Witwer had completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Richmond and received legal training at the Seton Hall University of Law.
   Capt. Waits, from Arizona, studied at Wheaton College in Illinois and received legal training at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law.
   After completing military classroom work in Virginia, they were separated by assignments at different bases and Capt. Waits’ eventual November 2007 deployment to war-torn Iraq.
   Capt. Witwer, at this time awaiting deployment into Iraq from Fort Drum in New York state, bit the bullet and went ahead and purchased an engagement ring and never let it out of his sight from the moment of purchase to the moment he popped the question.
   ”I was staying in a hotel at the time, so I just kept it on my person,” Capt. Witwer said.
   With deployment, Capt. Witwer arrived in the Middle East in early May.
   The couple have traveled around Iraq, performing legal work for the military, at some points leaving the safety of the military bases and heading “outside the wire,” according to Capt. Witwer.
   The two, who arrived back in the U.S. last week, are relieved to be home.
   ”It took 100 hours to get home,” said Capt. Witwer, referring to the series of stopovers at airports and other hurdles confronting U.S. servicemen and women trying to return home.
   ”Its great to be back,” he added.
   The couple will head back to Iraq in early October, although Capt. Waits will stop for a short period at home to plan for the fall 2009 wedding near Capt. Waits’ hometown of Tucson, Ariz.
   The couple are looking into continuing a legal career in the military for the immediate future, perhaps in Washington, D.C.
   Capt. Witwer said he his fiancée is looking at a return to the U.S. sometime in February, with his return likely to come later, perhaps in May.