Lt. Cmdr. Karen Sankes-Ritland never imagined life outside the military.
Her father was a Marine. Her husband is an explosive ordnance disposal officer. She’s a Naval Academy graduate.
But more than a decade into her career, the strains of family life and a dual-military household were taking a toll. Her father had recently died, her third child needed open-heart surgery and she was pregnant with her fourth child. Meanwhile, her husband was scheduled to deploy soon.
