Complex sentence: While the U.S. Military Academy figures frequently in the lives of her characters, her husband's entry into the army was through the National Guard, but he was an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute in the 1930s.
Split into simpler sentences: While the U.S. Military Academy figures frequently in the lives of her characters, her husband's entry into the army was through the National Guard. H he was an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute in the 1930s.