Getting Info On Contesting a Date Of separation

My husband is in the military and he is trying to use his deployment as a yr of separation when he knows darn well divorce wasn’t mentioned until maybe mid ways when he got mad at me. But never was mentioned again until 2 days prior before arriving to the states. He filed for divorce and we are only 6 months into our separation. I have a few weeks to respond to his divorce summons but I don’t have the means to afford an attorney but he has one and I was advised at the court house that I would need to do the same. How can I go about submitting a response and contesting a date of separation without an attorney?