The Online Reflector

The average age of a college student: 26. The average age of someone serving in the military: 26. Someone who personally experienced this statistic is Taryn Davis, a military widow at age 26.

Campus Program Board sponsored an L/P credit event, Faces of War on Nov. 9. Being held just prior to Veteran’s Day, Taryn’s story was timely.
She told the story of how she met, fell in love and experienced the death of her husband at a young age and what she did to empower other military widows.

Taryn first met Michael Davis in the high school marching band. She played clarinet while he played the trombone.

She said she was mean to him until her sophomore year when she got her first car . Michael would come over every day, and they would sit in her car for three hours every night, which eventually evolved into her first relationship at age 16.

“It was a simple relationship. There were no frills,” Taryn said.

In 2003, Taryn started college and began to succumb to the social pressures of drinking and partying. She broke things off with Michael, until one day she decided to meet and talk with him.

They were discussing college when Michael said, “I think I’m going to die at a young age.”

Taken aback by this statement, Taryn went to the bookstore and found a book titled “The Myth of Tomorrow.”

It asked her to imagine herself on her deathbed and who would be by her side. She saw her grandmother, her mother and Michael. After she knew that he was her soul mate, she stopped her partying, and they got back together.

One day, he called and informed her that he would be joining the U.S. Army, and in July 2005, he graduated and was shipped off to Ft. Richardson, Alaska.

On Dec. 23, 2005, Michael told Taryn that he wanted to get married. She was only 19.

“He told me, ‘We [soldiers] know how precious life is and we know who we want to spend it with,’” Taryn said.

After moving to Anchorage and taking online college courses at age 20, Taryn received a call from Michael saying that in two months he would be going to Iraq.

To make matters worse, two weeks later she received news that her grandmother, whom she was really close to, had passed away.

On Oct. 1, 2005, she had to move back on base in Texas, while Michael was away for a year.

To keep in touch, they used Internet social networks such as MySpace, Skype and instant messenger.

In March of 2007, Michael called Taryn and told her to look out the door. To her surprise, Michael was there waiting for her.

It had been six months, and they didn’t really talk about what was going on in Iraq. She was told that statistically she had a higher chance of dying in a car crash than Michael had of dying in Iraq.

On May 21, 2007, they were talking on Yahoo Instant Messenger, when he said, “Hey baby, I have to go.”

According to Taryn, she hated telling Michael to be careful because it made her feel like something bad would happen, but that day she said it.
She was visiting her parents around 10:30 p.m. when the phone rang, and her neighbor told her to get home. Panicking and frantic, she called for her mom and had a neighbor drive them to Taryn’s home.

The whole ride she chanted to herself, “He’s just injured. Please let him just be injured.” Before they turned the corner to her house, she yelled, “STOP!”

She knew that if they turned that corner, Michael would be dead. Two men in uniform said the worst words anyone with a loved one in the military could hear: “Taryn Davis, the Secretary of Defense regrets to inform you that your husband, Michael Davis, has been killed in a mission in Iraq.”
Screaming and crying, she yelled, “Get the f- – – away from me. There is no God!”

Michael Davis was killed driving a 35-ton army vehicle called the “Buffalo,” which is made to absorb blasts. Michael and the other soldiers in the vehicle were driving over a canal. As he drove forward, he crushed 20,000 tons of explosives. He died instantly, as did three others.

At age 21, Taryn was forced to write her deceased husband’s obituary.
On June 1 2007, his eulogy was read as well as their vows to each other.

“After listening to Taryn, she showed that no matter how young you are, life can drastically change and that you should grasp it and live,” junior Kaitlin Sandlin said.

Taryn started the American Widow Project, a non-profit organization with 600 widows currently, who do anything from skydiving to surfing.

“I started this so widows can feel life again,” Taryn said.

The University of Indianapolis has a student veteran organization on campus to help the transition from the military to college. UIndy currently has 60 veterans on campus.