source GAIA package: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201210205310312_5675.zip Origin key: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201210205310312 imported at Fri Jan 8 18:18:06 2016
Staff Sgt. Ryan Culberson has a new mother-in-law — and she's one of the "Real Housewives of Orange County."
Landing himself in the middle of a reality TV show full of big houses, fancy dinner parties and lots of drama has been an adjustment for Culberson. The joint terminal attack controller's new wife, Briana, is the daughter of Vicki Gunvalson, who is in her seventh season of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Orange County." Briana has been on the show since she was a teen. Now the thrice-deployed member of 11th Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., appears on the show alongside her.
"I doubt any of them, other than Vicki now, understand the military lifestyle," Culberson, a native of Burlington, N.C., told Marine Corps Times. "Their reality is different than 90 percent of the country. That's been the biggest culture shock to me."
Gunvalson said she doesn't think the other Housewives have any experience with the military. She said Culberson's presence on the show is a wonderful opportunity to show the world the life of a Marine.
And his TV appearances haven't gone unnoticed by his fellow Marines. Guys in his shop like to give him a hard time about his new life.
"They say they're going to change my call sign to 'Housewife,' " he said. "Most of my superiors' wives watch it, so they'll see me on TV and ask if I had makeup on."
Culberson added his share of drama to the show when it was announced that he eloped with Gunvalson's daughter in a Las Vegas drive-through chapel in October. The two broke the news to Gunvalson at dinner, her daughter telling her she had a bomb to drop. Gunvalson replied, "I don't really like bombs," and her daughter said, "Well, Ryan likes bombs, he drops bombs for a living."
Gunvalson was upset on the show and said she wanted more than a drive-through chapel wedding for her daughter.
But after 2005 and 2008 deployments to Iraq and a 2011 deployment to Afghanistan that left him communicating with Briana via hand-written letters, Culberson said their decision to get married in the moment made sense — especially after Briana faced a cancer scare resulting in the removal of her thyroid.
"I think the deployment and her health are the main reasons we did this," Culberson said. "Knowing she was cancer-free and me coming back from deployments where we lost guys and people were getting hurt left and right — it just made sense."
Gunvalson hosted a more traditional wedding for the couple May 12 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Culberson said he and his new wife are expecting a baby boy. An ultrasound was done before the wedding, but the results of the baby's gender were kept a secret until they cut their wedding cake and blue frosting on the inside was revealed.
Despite the show's success and spin-off casts being filmed in several major cities since it began in 2006, Culberson said like most guys, he was pretty oblivious to what the show was all about.
"Me being the normal guy, I don't watch those kinds of shows," he said. "I knew it was about rich people on TV, but I didn't really have a good understanding."
The show began as a glimpse "behind the gates" into the lives of rich Orange County housewives. Expensive cars, clothes and plastic surgery are all topics regularly discussed on the show. But Briana seemed different when they met in 2009, Culberson said.
"What drew me to her is that she's so normal," he said. "She's completely the girl next door."
Gunvalson said she is proud of the choice her daughter made in a husband.
"Not being from a Marine family, it is very exciting having Ryan as a new addition to ours," she said. "It is fun talking to him about his experiences both on the base and when he is deployed, and I'm so proud of his passion for our country."
