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Back in service: At 44, a Naples family man rejoins the Army
COURTNEY POTTER
Lisa Laliberte holds the last family photograph of she and her husband, Sgt. Michael Laliberte, left, and 10-year-old daughter, Madison, taken just before Sgt. Laliberte returned to South Korea to fight in the second Infantry Division. Laliberte left for South Korea in November 2007 and returned June 20 on military leave. He returned to South Korea on July 16, 2008.
COURTNEY POTTER
Madison, 10, and Lisa Laliberte cuddle with black lab Lyndie in the master bedroom of their Naples home on Friday. Sgt. Michael Laliberte, father and husband, is currently stationed in South Korea in the second Infantry Division. The situation has brought mother and daughter closer together, says Lisa, and Madison writes her father every day.
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The microwave clock in Lisa Laliberte’s kitchen reads 2 a.m., even though it’s 1 p.m. on a Friday.
She didn’t forget to reset it after a power outage; she uses it to keep track of what time it is in South Korea since her husband was deployed there last year.
“I have to have that, or else I don’t know what I’d do,” the couple’s 10-year-old daughter, Madison, said.
As military families around the country feel the stress of third and fourth deployments, the Lalibertes are at the beginning, staring down a tunnel of at least five more years of uncertainty.
Once an ROTC cadet in college, Sgt. Michael Laliberte, now 44, left the service and pursued a career in finance.
A few years ago, he decided that just wasn’t what he wanted anymore.
“It was a huge decision,” recalled Lisa Laliberte, 42, seated at the kitchen table of their Verona Walk home in Naples with a dozen photos of her husband in uniform spread across the glass table top.
“We’ve gotten the double stare from people a lot, like ‘excuse me, what?’,” she said. “9-11 obviously had a lot of people compelled to go back in again. Well, he didn’t go back in in that time frame, and he just kept having this desire to go back in, so we finally agreed. If you’re going to go, go.”
With a hard-won blessing from his wife, he re-enlisted in the Army last summer. By the end of the year, he was serving with the Second Infantry Division in South Korea.
It’s just the beginning.
“Until further notice” is the buzz phrase around the Laliberte house these days as they muddle through the transition from civilian to military family.
Lisa Laliberte and Madison don’t know when they will see their husband and father next after he was home for a month of rest and relaxation in July.
They don’t know where he will be stationed once he is back from South Korea, or how long he will be in the U.S. before heading to Iraq or Afghanistan next year.
Madison talks about her father with wide-eyed excitement and pride. She traces a photo of her father in fatigues, holding a gun in the woods of South Korea.
That will be her letter for today. She writes him daily, and they are able to talk on the phone almost every day.
“Living the movie” is what she tells him he’s doing.
But when Sgt. Laliberte and his wife came to the agreement that he would re-enlist, there was nothing Hollywood about it.
They talked finances and trimmed their budget, given the paycut from a financial services vice president to serviceman.
He gave his wife power of attorney. They talked worst-case scenarios.
“At that point in time, when you’re filling out and looking at paperwork and he looks at you and goes ‘you will remarry’, I was like, ‘excuse me?’” she recalled. “I don’t think anybody thinks about that until something happens.”
There is a pale bluish-gray sign on a shelf in the Lalibertes’ lanai.
“Tenacious dreams,” it reads.
The couple had the sign made when they were just married and living in Rhode Island. It was their phrase to live by; when he joined the Army again, she pulled it out of the garage and dusted it off.
“We needed to have something for our life. We have dreams for our life, but they come and go unless you pursue them. So when he left, I couldn’t not have that out ...
“The biggest thing is that with experience you go, OK, we’re all going to die -- whether you sit behind a desk in a corporate office, -- not that that’s a bad way to live, but if that’s not what your gut and your heart are telling you ...” she trails off, watching Madison tie a silver ribbon around her letter to her father.
Madison doesn’t know if she’ll finish her school year at Lely Elementary School, or if she’ll still be in Naples to start middle school the next year.
Lisa Laliberte doesn’t know when she will see her husband again.
They’re waiting for the next marching orders to come in, their family life jumbled “until further notice.”
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Inspiring. Good luck and be proud!
#1 Posted by whatsright on August 3, 2008 at 12:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Very admirable. Good luck Sargeant Laliberte!
He is the definition of a hero to me. At 44 with wife and child he decides to drop a cozy,cushy job, and re enlist, takes a paycut, and will be away from home for months on end, he didn't have to to, he wasn't forced to, he wanted to!
#2 Posted by Jadip811 on August 3, 2008 at 2:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds pretty selfish to me. I'll hope that his wife and child aren't left without a husband and father because he had a mid-life crisis and decided to go play Rambo instead of taking care of his family.
#3 Posted by myrealname on August 3, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Loving someone means supporting him and his dreams. It sounds like it was a family decision and that they waited until the time was workable; That in itself demonstrates that he put his family first. His contribution to our country is honorable and I commend him and thank him.
#4 Posted by CollierMom on August 3, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a nice story. Best wishes to Sgt Laliberte and his family and my hopes for his safe return. Indeed an selfless act.
#5 Posted by swfl_ff on August 3, 2008 at 12:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you Sgt. Laliberte & family for your selfless act of courage.
#6 Posted by FDNYEngine298 on August 3, 2008 at 7:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
#3 Posted by myrealname
Selfish maybe, but do you have kids? Oh say draft age? Hmmm, food for thought on anothers selfishness...
#7 Posted by Jadip811 on August 3, 2008 at 8:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If there were a draft, there wouldn't be a war.
#8 Posted by myrealname on August 4, 2008 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You mean like Vietnam Myrealname?
#9 Posted by Jadip811 on August 4, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is a great movie that just came out on video called Stop-Loss Realname.
Instead of the draft the government is getting around staffing issues by forcing needed soldiers in needed positions to additional tours.
So little Johnny is safe for now.
#10 Posted by Jadip811 on August 4, 2008 at 10:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If people's children were being forced to fight and die for this stupid war, there would be a lot more angry Americans doing the right thing and protesting. Just like Vietnam.
But that's neither hear nor there, this is about one man, admittedly with his wife's blessing, leaving his family in financial strain and uncertainty about their future.
They were secure and stable and this was totally a selfish act on the part of the father to let his own family have to live with the prospect of him being either maimed or killed in a war that's nothing but a business venture to the ones who are running the show.
IMO
#11 Posted by myrealname on August 4, 2008 at 3:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To: myrealname...
This is SGT Laliberte'
You seem to me to be able to think for yourself and arrive at your own conclusions. However, you are off target by ... alot! You have no idea about what you speak. You have no idea about me, my family or our financial situation. You have no idea what philosophy our family subscribes to or what it is that we feel is important. So your OPINIONS about what you have read are just that...your OPINIONS. That is one of the reasons why I am doing what I am doing - to safe guard EVERYONE'S right to their opinion - no matter how foolish it may be. If you are so concerned about my financial situation, feel free to send money. If not, that's ok..I'm not asking as I do not need it nor am I doing this for the money. So, please refrain from commenting on that issue. Regarding how you feel about the war... here is my take on that...
I am not the policy maker, I am only doing my best to try to help and teach younger soldiers how to stay alive on the battle field. That is what I do...I teach, mentor and do a whole lot of listening to young people who are about the age of someone that could be my son. Only another parent would know and appreciate that someone is with their son or daughter trying to do their best to teach them how to stay alive. I am not the architect here, sir...only a hammer! Do not stop the flow of your opinions but please kindly reserve them for topics that you have knowledge of. I enjoy reading your thoughts outside of my finances.
SGT. "L"
#12 Posted by ChangeMaker on August 5, 2008 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
""As military families around the country feel the stress of third and fourth deployments, the Lalibertes are at the beginning, staring down a tunnel of at least five more years of uncertainty.""
""Lisa Laliberte and Madison don’t know when they will see their husband and father next ""
""They talked finances and trimmed their budget, given the paycut from a financial services vice president to serviceman.""
Sgt L, I appreciate your reply however, I feel that, were the above quotes not included in this article, my opinion wouldn't have taken the shape that it did. So, if your family didn't have to tighten their budget because of your declining income and your family isn't facing a life of uncertainty, then I apologize for the ignorance I feel was forced upon me by the writer of this story.
As for your reasons for being there, if you are only a teacher and are never going to be put into a hostile situation where your life could be taken away from your daughter and your wife, then I applaud you for your caring nature and wish you nothing but the best.
Good luck to you and your family.
#13 Posted by myrealname on August 5, 2008 at 9:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
#12 Posted by ChangeMaker
Amen!
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one...
Good look and Godspeed to you Sgt. Michael Laliberte!
#14 Posted by Jadip811 on August 5, 2008 at 11:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, good luck!
#15 Posted by Jadip811 on August 6, 2008 at 4:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And best of all, I'm still the SECOND oldest NCO in Bravo Company-Thanks mike. (ha ha)
#16 Posted by Robert_L on September 12, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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