Hey, consider this listeners, it's Ari Shapiro.

We've got a weekend bonus episode for you.

There's a phrase that might be familiar to you if you know someone in the military,

or if you've served yourself.

It's the civilian military divide.

It speaks to a separation of social circles.

Surprisingly few civilians can claim to have a close friend who has served.

Our colleagues at NPR's rough translation wanted to explore this divide.

What it feels like and how it can be bridged.

We teamed up with our veterans correspondent, Quill Lawrence, on a series called Homefront.

The episode you're about to hear is the first in a three-part story.

So after you finish, you can listen to part two and three right away.

Rough translation host Gregory Warner takes it from here.

This is Rough Translation from NPR.

In our new season, Homefront, about the civilian military divide.

One way that people cross that divide, romance.

Matt Lammer's had been out of active duty for two years when he rolled into a bedbath

and beyond in Tucson, Arizona.

He showed up on my store a bedbath and beyond, very late at night.

Alicia Arhelia was a store manager.

And you know, when you want to close the store, you don't want customers around, so you

go and help them.

...