07:35 PM EST on Sunday, March 20, 2005

Elizabeth Chase and Matthew Grieser

St. Luke's Church, Barrington

9.5.04

In this marriage, neither will be able to pull rank on the other: Both are active duty captains in the United States Army.

Elizabeth Chase is 28, Matthew Grieser is 30. She grew up in Barrington, where her parents still live. He's from Oregon. Elizabeth graduated from Duke University, where she majored in history, followed by a second degree from Georgetown University, in nursing. Then she joined the Army. Matthew enlisted in the Army right after high school, then went to college, participating in the ROTC program at the University of Idaho.

As newly commissioned officers, they had to attend Officer Basic Course in San Antonio, in July 2000. That's where they met, but afterwards, he was assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and she stayed in San Antonio, where she was stationed. They sent e-mails, visited each other, and discovered that they really liked each other -- a lot.

Elizabeth requested a transfer to Fort Bragg, and on February 26, 2002, she and Matt went to Disney World, where he proposed marriage.

They set a date: October 12, 2003. But shortly after they were engaged, Matt was deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was to be gone for only six months; they were excited that they would still be able to go ahead with their wedding date. Not so: two months after Matt returned, in March 2003, Elizabeth was deployed to Iraq with the 28th Combat Support Hospital.

Elizabeth is an operating room nurse. She was south of Baghdad, then in Tikrit, in a combat hospital. She was told she might be home in time for that October wedding, so she continued her planning while in Iraq, thanks to her family and e-mail. Instead, she remained in Iraq for an entire year, until last February.

"Our 'save the date' cards had already been sent out, then instead of sending invitations, we had to send notes saying 'due to deployment....' " Meanwhile, Matt was deployed again last August, also to Iraq, but over 100 miles from Elizabeth. Matt is with the Medical Service Corps, in charge of "casualty care, evacuation, organization and administration" for the infantry. In Afghanistan, he supervised 20-plus medics setting up aid stations. In Iraq, he took care of medical planning for an entire battallion. He stayed until last April.

Today's wedding has been planned with everything just the way they initially wanted it. Matt will wear his mess uniform, the Army version of a tuxedo, and Elizabeth will wear a "civilian" wedding dress. In traditional military style, their Army friends will perform the Arch of Sabers -- passing through the arch is meant to ensure the couple's safe transition into their new life together.

They are both now stationed in Fayetteville, N.C. Captain Elizabeth Chase isn't sure if her future lies with the military, but Captain Matthew Grieser, who has already been in the Army for 12 years, says he will stay until he retires.