Author Author

by Bob MacKenzie

Now that she is an author, Diane Collier must be glad of her 26 years' experience as a military wife. She has become used to packing and moving at short notice and attending to a dozen tasks at once. While a full time military wife and a full time secretary she also wrote three weekly newspaper columns and, over a period of eight years, a book. When I met her for our interview, she was a vision of calm.

I wonder if I could be as relaxed. Mrs. Collier had arrived in Kingston the previous afternoon just in time to get settled in then attend a reception in her honour and read from her work that evening at CFB Kingston. When I met her in the morning, she was also booked at the same time for the photographer from The Whig and a crew from the television station. We had less than an hour before she had to be at the radio station for an interview. Mrs. Collier seemed to take it all in her stride.

Retired Canadian Major General Lewis W. MacKenzie, has written a very complimentary foreword to Hurry Up and Wait. In part, he writes, "This book doesn't preach. It is a delightful collection of anecdotes, survey results and sage advice from wives and kids of all ages who have been there."

I was curious to know how Mrs. Collier had brought her manuscript to the attention of such an influential figure as Major General MacKenzie. I asked her if he had been a family friend.

"Well, no. I wrote him a letter and told him what I was doing and asked him if he would consider doing something. He said he would be delighted to do it, and he said such a book was long overdue.

"I met him a few days later when he was at a signing for his own book. I gave him a copy of the manuscript for him to review."

From my reading of Hurry Up and Wait I had some idea of Mrs. Collier's background. She had been a secretary since the age of seventeen and for 26 years had been the wife of a Field Engineer in the Canadian military. Decades of writing letters to friends and family from postings around the world had roused her interest in writing and had led to her three weekly newspaper columns. None of this, however, explains why she undertook the extensive research she had to do to complete this 182 page book.

Hurry Up and Wait is, in many ways, an academic study in the sociology of the military lifestyle. Mrs. Collier sent three separate questionnaires to military wives and another to teens at Canadian bases across Canada and around the world. She also sent a questionnaire to wives of military personnel on the U.N. task force. As well, over a period of eight years, she conducted hundreds of personal interviews with Canadian military wives before she completed her manuscript.

As a Canadian military wife of long standing, Dianne Collier might much more easily have written an account of her own life and experiences. I asked her why she chose to do such extensive research into a lifestyle about which she already has a great deal of personal knowledge.

"I didn't want it to be about me. Sure, there is some of me in the book. I wanted to stick with where I was coming from and with my experience, but I wanted to do something for the wives.

"It had never been done before: a book for the wives by the wives. I learned as I went along. I didn't have any training for what I have done. It was agonizing trying to decide what to leave in and what to leave out.

"I've spoken to wives from the bottom of the rank scale right through to the top. Wives in all three elements of the forces are represented."

In Hurry Up and Wait, Dianne Collier writes that, "life as a military wife can be very frustrating, lonely, and depressing. This book tries to instill a chuckle here and there, to put a little more laughter into this often serious atmosphere."

In reference the humour of her "Down Home Drivel" newspaper column, Mrs. Collier has been called "the Erma Bombeck of Petawawa." I wondered if she saw herself as a Canadian Erma Bombeck and if this had contributed to the overall tone of her book.

"There is more humour in my articles than there is in this book. In the articles I poke a lot of fun at running a household. I think that's where I get compared to Erma Bombeck.

"In Hurry Up and Wait, I basically wanted to tell our story, and there are some negative aspects. But if a book is all negative no-one wants to finish reading it. I wanted to balance that with humour. There are more positives than negatives to our lifestyle and I wanted to show that. I had to tell the good and the bad because it is all part of the lifestyle."

In her book, Mrs. Collier states a number of reasons she has written it: to show the young military wife what her life will be like and that she is not alone; to show civilians what the lifestyle is like so that they will understand better; to show husbands that military wives are a special breed; and to "have husbands appreciate us more and take us for granted less."

Relevant to civilian understanding of the military lifestyle, I mentioned that Mrs. Collier had not written about the common perception held by civilians that there is much more abuse in military than civilian families. She believes this is one of several misconceptions held by civilians.

"I don't see that there's any more abuse in the military community than there is in the civilian. There is stress in all fields not just the military.

"Because we are all concentrated in one area, what abuse does occur is more easily noticed. I think because we are more easily identified we are singled out by the press. I don't see any evidence of any more abuse on the bases than there is anywhere else."

Mrs. Collier especially sees her book "as education for civilians" who she feels may have some unfounded prejudices toward military families. She notes that there are civilians reading Hurry Up and Wait and hopes this will promote "more awareness by civilians of what goes on at the base and what the base is all about."

Although Mrs. Collier's children are both sons, I asked her whether she would recommend that her daughter marry a military man or a civilian.

"If I had a daughter, I would recommend the military lifestyle to her. I really would. Because, over all, it's a good life. I think that (as a military wife) you see more and you do more than perhaps you would if your husband had a nine to five job."

Finally, I asked Mrs. Collier if, now that Hurry Up and Wait has been published, she plans to write another book.

"If I do a new book, I know I'll do it on a completely different angle. And if I do another one, I sure don't plan on spending eight years on it. It should be easier the second time around."