Pulling double duty in the Hughes household

Master Sgt. Cortny Hughes describes her family as, “fun, devoted, diverse, open, and caring.”

Those descriptions are also the glue that helps make her joint-spouse family stick together. Her husband, Master Sgt. Donald Hughes, works at Air Mobility Command while she works at the 15th Operational Weather Squadron. Together, they have endured multiple deployments, often proving to be some of the most trying times.

“We’ve taken turns being deployed and times get hard when you all of a sudden become the single parent left at home to take on all responsibilities by yourself,” said Cortny. “Probably the hardest ever, for both my husband and I, was for him to have to watch our son be born over Skype while he was deployed.”

Donald missed the first two months of his son’s life, and this is common among many military families. Missing births, birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays are another reason why family time is often the most precious.

For Cortny that involves slumber parties on Friday nights with her husband, 9-year-old daughter Keira, and 3-year-old son Jeffrey. Together, they pull out all of the blankets onto the floor to make a big bed, all so they can watch movies as a family.

Despite all the hardships, Cortny said that the adventures are the best part of being a military family.

“Deployments are inevitable these days,” said Cortny. “So we make sure we are there for them every night.”