Sham Marriage
So, I got placed in Pensacola for a brief training gig. Young and naive, 21-year-old me started dating this local girl, even though I wasn’t supposed to. She seemed great, saying she was into everything I was, even lying that she worked at FEMA cause I said I wanted to help people. When I got orders to move to New Mexico, she hinted at going along. Ignoring the warning signs, I said yes.
I rented a place off-base in New Mexico, against rules since I was supposed to live in dorms until I became a Senior Airman. Naturally, things went south, she changed completely, wasn’t into the stuff she claimed to be, and had a constant bad mood. Soon my Captain found out and gave me an ultimatum – send her back or marry her. We got hitched.
These nine years of marriage were hellish. She refused to work, and I found out she had lied about her FEMA job. Her only work experience was from a trailer park as a receptionist. Right before our ninth anniversary, she convinced me to leave the service and move to Florida to take care of her grandpa. We reach there only to find out her grandpa is completely fine.
To make matters worse, I found out she was cheating on me. I kicked her out, and she moved in with her boyfriend. When I decided to move, she somehow got the news and wiped out my house. When I confronted her, she called the cops and made false accusations against me. I took a plea deal my lawyer recommended.
But here’s the kicker: she was never legally my wife. All this while, she was officially hitched to some guy in Michigan. So effectively, I had spent almost a decade taking care of her, even though she made me miserable. Despite cheating on me and committing bigamy, she faced zero consequences. Both Florida and New Mexico declined to take any action.