Though it might not be every couple’s dream to spend their honeymoon in Afghanistan, one brave couple of Mississippi Army National Guard soldiers seems to be enjoying it. Sgt. David Nelson and his wife, Spc. Tamara Nelson, both of the 184th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, were married on July 1st and deployed to Kandahar Air Field shortly afterwards.

According to David, “This deployment is our honeymoon. Not every couple gets an all-expense paid vacation to an exotic location like this. It’s actually pretty cool.”

Married military couples don’t always get to share the same quarters during a deployment, but David and Tamara’s unit played a key role in getting the newlyweds their own space. David told the press, “Our command did something for us that I can be nothing but thankful for. We get to see each other every day, we get to go do stuff together, and our command has been extremely accommodating, and I’m really happy about that.”

While Tamara has served for eleven years in the Guard, David has one year more of service. Before their deployment to Afghanistan, both worked at the Combined Support Maintenance Shop at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center.

Though they are grateful for the opportunity to be deployed together, they both stressed it was very hard to leave their children behind. The couple have two young daughters, Lilli, who is three, and Kenzie, who is six.

According to David, it was hard to say goodbye to their daughters. He went on to say that though everybody wants to be at home with their kids, he and Tamara knew they were serving for a reason, and they had known for a long time they might be separated from Lilli and Kenzie, who are now living with David’s brother Glen and his wife Daphne.