About Sara Dawalt

Author of 365 Deployment Days: A Wife’s Survival Story

A teacher, author and military wife, Sara Dawalt became a writer to help others, like herself, struggling with the deployment of a spouse. Her memoir, 365 Deployment Days: A Wife’s Survival Story (Bridgeway Books, November 2007), was born from personal experiences while her husband was deployed to Iraq and she was left with the responsibilities of running a household and surviving the deployment alone.

Raised in St. Joseph Michigan, Dawalt grew up in a normal, middle-class household, with both parents present. She attended Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., where she received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and mathematics. Graduating with high honors, Dawalt also received an elementary teaching certificate.

After finishing school and marrying Second Lieutenant Brandon Dawalt, the couple was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. Three years later, Dawalt’s husband was deployed to Iraq for his first tour of duty. With her husband’s deployment, she was left to face the challenges of everyday life alone, like many military wives who have a deployed spouse. These trials became her inspiration for 365 Deployment Days, in which she shares her turmoil, victories and resolution to make it through every day despite her husband’s deployment to Iraq, providing a personal account to help other military families in the same situation.

365 Deployment Days showcases the struggle to maintain normal, stable routines while simultaneously fighting the wealth of feelings that naturally come with separation from a spouse during war. Dawalt’s story invokes an array of emotions as the reader participates in her experiences and roots her on in her quest to find her way through. She credits her husband’s time away from home as her launching point to finding herself, beginning to live each day and teaching her the importance of true communication in marriage.  

“I want those who have a family member deployed or away from home for a long period of time to be able to read this book and know they are not alone,” says Dawalt. “If my story helps even one person feel like they are not losing their minds then I have accomplished my goal!”

Dawalt currently teaches pre-kindergarten at Reeces Creek Elementary School in Killeen, Texas. Additionally, she serves as a mentor and trainer to new teachers for the Killeen Independent School District. She is a member of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, coaches high school girls' soccer at Shoemaker High School, and she plays on a recreational soccer team in her spare time. She lives in Killeen with her husband and her dogs, Macy and Molly. Captain Dawalt recently completed his second tour of duty in Iraq.