This is an overview of the main, recurring and other characters of the TV series Army Wives, which ran from 2007 to 2013.
Main characters
Denise Sherwood Seasons 1 – 7 Denise Sherwood (portrayed by Catherine Bell) is the wife of Colonel Frank Sherwood. She was in nursing school but dropped out to marry Frank. They have been married for some twenty years and had a son Jeremy who was seventeen when the show premiered. In the Season 4 finale she gives birth to a daughter Molly. Her marriage with Frank very nearly ended in divorce – they had already signed the papers – when she was fired for having an affair with a patient but they reconciled and dropped divorce proceedings before it was finalized. She works as a Registered Nurse at Mercer Army Medical Center, the on-post hospital serving Fort Marshall.
Claudia Joy Holden Seasons 1 – 6 Claudia Joy Holden (née Meade) (portrayed by Kim Delaney) was the wife of Lieutenant-General Michael Holden. She and Denise were best friends and have known each other since their children were in elementary school; their husbands served together for many years and were both stationed at Fort Carson when the families first met. She was a law student at Harvard University when she first met Michael, who was a cadet at West Point, but did not finish her studies due to an accident with another former law student. They had two daughters: Amanda Joy and Emmalin Jane. In Season 1 finale, Amanda died when a soldier walked in with a bomb strapped to his chest. He killed 4 people (Amanda included) and severely injured several others. In Season 7 it is revealed that she died of heart failure after a long battle with various health problems. She was in Germany with the First Lady when she died. Her death was especially hard on Michael and Denise.
Roxanne "Roxy" LeBlanc Seasons 1 – 6, 7 (special appearance)
Roxanne "Roxy" LeBlanc (portrayed by Sally Pressman) is the wife of 2LT Trevor LeBlanc. She was a bartender in Tuscaloosa when she met Trevor. She comes from a less privileged background and is extremely independent, having had to contend with an alcoholic mother and an unstable home life for much of her childhood and teen years. She has two older boys TJ and Finn. Roxy was married to a man named Jesse when she got pregnant with TJ. After Jesse, Roxy was being comforted by a friend by the name of Whitt and ended up getting pregnant again with Finn. Several years later, Roxy was bartending at a bar in Tuscaloosa when she met her second husband, Trevor LeBlanc. After only knowing each other for 4 days; Roxy and Trevor got married and they packed their belongings and moved in with Trevor at Fort Marshall in South Carolina.
After some difficulty adjusting to her new role as an Army wife, she meets "The Tribe" — the circle of Army wives (and husband) which include Denise Sherwood, Claudia Joy Holden, Pamela Moran and Roland Burton — and becomes close to them. She becomes a FRG leader during Season 6 and helps new Army wives adjust to Fort Marshall. When Gloria Cruz moves to Fort Marshall with her husband Hector Cruz in Season 6, Roxy helps her out by hiring her as a waitress at The Hump Bar and they become good friends. Roxy becomes pregnant with her and Trevor's first child together in Season 3, but ends up miscarrying in Season 4. In Season 6, Roxy becomes pregnant again, this time with twin boys. She names them Drew and Wyatt.
Towards the end of Season 6, Roxy, Trevor, the kids'/Jeremy’s dog Lucky move to Tacoma, Washington when Trevor receives his PCS orders to Fort Lewis in Washington.
Roxy is the owner of the former Jody bar named The Hump Bar. It is a local bar off post popular with the military and her friends. She "inherited" it from Betty in Season 2 when Betty leaves for California after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Gloria is now the manager since the LeBlancs have moved to Washington but Roxy continues to own it.
Sally Pressman made a special appearance in the first two episodes of Season 7. Roxy was on her way to Tacoma, Washington with Trevor and the boys and made a detour to Fort Marshall to attend Claudia Joy's funeral upon hearing the news.
Pamela Moran Seasons 1 – 6, 6 – 7 (special appearance) Pamela Moran (portrayed by Brigid Brannagh) is the wife of Master Sergeant Chase Moran. She was a Boston PD cop before leaving it to marry Chase. The couple have a son Lucas and daughter Katherine "Katie" Eileen. She is frequently seen alone with her children due to Chase's army commitments. She has difficulty dealing with Chase's commitments to Delta Force and the secrecy of his deployments because she never knows when he was going to be called away on a mission.
When Roxy first moves to Fort Marshall she befriends her and the two become best friends, as do their children. They frequently babysit each other's children.
Pamela and Chase end up getting a divorce because Pamela could not handle Chase being away all time at a moment's notice with Delta Force. Pamela moved into an apartment off post and Chase moved into a smaller house on post. After a while, Chase finally went to Pamela with his papers and told her that he requested to be transferred out of Delta when he got hired at a job in California.
Chase leaves the Army and Delta Force in order to spend more time with his family and finds a well-paid management position in California. Pamela and the children stay in Charleston so the children can finish off the school year. In the beginning of Season 6 her apartment is so severely damaged by the hurricane that it had to be condemned and their possessions are too damaged and ruined. Pamela and the kids move in with Roxy and Trevor and their two boys for a while before Pamela decides to join Chase earlier as she and the kids miss him. They move to California at the beginning of Season 6.
Since leaving the show Brigid Brannagh has made several special appearances. In the Season 6 episode "Hello Stranger", Pamela and Chase invite Roxy and Trevor to meet them for the weekend in Miami as Chase is there for a convention. She returns again, in the first episode of Season 7, to attend Claudia Joy's funeral.
Dr. Roland Burton Seasons 1 – 6, 7 (recurring) Dr. Roland Burton (portrayed by Sterling K. Brown) is the husband of Colonel Joan Burton. He was a psychiatrist at the base medical center in Season 1. In later seasons he began working with veterans suffering from PTSD and depression at a private clinic off post. He found his calling working with adolescents and briefly taught at the high school on post and counseled Army children at the base youth center.
During the first season, his marriage hit a rough patch as Roland was dealing with loneliness. He ended up having an affair with a journalist while Joan was away for her 30 day treatment when she was suffering from PTSD. When Roland has an affair, they separate and are seemingly headed for a divorce. They reconcile when Joan becomes pregnant. They have a daughter named Sara Elizabeth and an adopted son David. Roland and Joan name General Holden and his wife Claudia Joy Holden Godparents of Sara Elizabeth.
Roland is the only man in "The Tribe". Due to his training he is often consulted by the wives on various issues and has helped them and their families deal with problems such as PTSD, grief and drug addiction.
In Season 7, Joan gets deployed to Afghanistan, but ends up getting new orders to return home with her brigade after only 2 weeks. Because Joan was going to be deployed for at least a year (or so they thought) Roland accepts a job offer to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and was going to take the children with him. Roland and Joan get into an argument when Joan gets home from being deployed and Roland still wants to take David and Sara Elizabeth with him to Baltimore. Joan and Roland finally come to an agreement and Roland goes to Baltimore while the kids stay home with Joan.
Gloria Cruz Seasons 6 – 7 Gloria Cruz (portrayed by Alyssa Diaz) is the wife of Corporal Hector Cruz. She is from The Bronx in New York City and married Hector after meeting online and a two-day courtship. She struggled to adapt to life as an Army Wife at Fort Marshall as she had never lived outside of New York City before. At first, she rejects help from Roxy LeBlanc. When she realizes that Roxy was genuinely trying to help, they become best friends, replacing Pamela's spot. She often turns to Roxy and General Clarke's wife Jackie Clarke for advice.
Their marital problems begin to affect Hector's performance in the field during training and they were sent for mandatory marriage counseling. They begin divorce proceedings towards the end of Season 6 after Hector has an affair with a girl named Penny. 6 months later, Penny shows up at Hector and Gloria's door being pregnant. Hector takes a paternity test proving that he is the father of Penny's baby. She goes back to New York as she missed her family, but returns to Fort Marshall before Roxy moves to Tacoma with Trevor. In Season 7, Gloria begins dating (2LT) Patrick Clarke, not realizing he is Jackie's son. She decides to stop the relationship as Jackie was her friend and his father Major General Kevin Clarke was Hector's superior officer. When Roxy moves to Tacoma, Washington with her husband Trevor, she was going to sell the Hump Bar to this man, but changed her mind and hired Gloria as a manager for the Hump Bar.
After Hector and Gloria's divorce became final, Gloria moved in with fellow Army Wife Holly Truman while Holly's husband (PFC) Tim Truman is deployed to Afghanistan with Hector's platoon.
Jackie Clarke Seasons 6 – 7 Jackie Clarke (portrayed by Kelli Williams) is the wife of Major General Kevin Clarke, commander of the 32nd Airborne Division. They were initially based at Fort Hope but due to massive damage from Hurricane Nina and minimal damage to Fort Marshall, her husband's division is relocated to Fort Marshall in the first few episodes of Season 6. Initially she and Claudia Joy Holden had a tense and awkward relationship as their husbands were competing for a third star, even though Michael and Kevin are on friendly terms and generally oblivious to their wives' rivalry; they later discover that Kevin was passed up for a third star due to political manipulation by Audrey Whitaker, wife of Michael's former CO Major General Bryce Whitaker. Claudia Joy then realizes that Audrey had used the opportunity to get back at the Clarkes for an old grudge and distances herself from the Whitakers.
The daughter of a retired major general, Jackie comes from a well-connected upper-class New England family and her family is said to have been personal friends of the family of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (the Bouviers). Following family tradition, she attended the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy. She graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude and speaks several languages.
Jackie and Kevin have been married for over twenty years. The years of constant moving and long deployments and her husband's workaholic nature took a toll on her and she became addicted to pills. Their teenage daughter Sophie, who is a boarder at Phillips Exeter, is first introduced in the Season 6 episode "Hello, Stranger" and it becomes apparent that mother and daughter are estranged. Their son Patrick graduated from West Point in Season 7. She gradually becomes part of "the tribe" and they rally around her to help her kick the habit when she started taking pills again due to stress. She and Denise, as the older and more "experienced" Army wives, often help out the other wives, especially the younger and newly married ones.
Holly Truman Season 7