Engage. Educate. Encourage. EMPOWER.
On June 14th, 2018, the United States Army officially turns 243 years old. And what a history it has.
This year’s theme is “Over There: A celebration of Army heroes from World War I to present day.” Since the beginning of WWI in 1914, the Army has deployed soldiers to support missions in multiple wars and conflicts in numerous countries across multiple continents.
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We are about to enter the prime PCS season, which means that some of you may be prepping for a big move, or you may be prepping to say your heartfelt, bitter “see you laters” (because, fortunately, there’s no such thing as “goodbye” in this life).
This is a hard time for a lot of us, especially if we are the ones staying put while the friends around us move on. This time of year always makes me reflect on the gift of military spouse friendships, as a number of my friends are leaving this summer.
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This life isn’t an easy one. As military spouses, we’ve given up a lot of opportunities in exchange for marrying a service member.
We’ve sacrificed our careers, our roots, time away from our extended families, consistency, and the ability to plan, while accepting the job of solo-parent and helpmate and harnessing the burden of household duties on our own shoulders.
To the struggling military spouse, we see you.
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February always reminds me of the most challenging experience my family has had as serial military renters.
Since arriving at my husband’s first duty station in 2010, we’ve always chosen to live in on-post housing or rent a home off post, and before that, we rented apartments. We aren’t yet sure where we’ll settle in the end, so we hesitate to purchase a home.
One of the most important things you can do as a renting military family is purchase renters insurance. With a military bank like USAA, it’s a very inexpensive monthly fee, but it protects you much more than you might imagine.
I found this out the hard way.
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As you probably hear quite often, military life usually has no shortage of separations. It’s hard enough being separated from your service member because Murphy’s Law often comes to light. It can get more trying when you have other engagements, but especially if you have children.
I’ve come to call the time I parent alone “solo-parenting.” I know some people consider it “single parenting,” but I think that misses the mark. Milspouses are fortunate enough to have financial and emotional support from a spouse, unlike actual single parents.
But we certainly do parent solo for a period of time while our service members attend school, go on temporary duty, or depart for a deployment.
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It’s exciting to receive orders to Europe: the travel opportunities, the food, the culture. Europe offers so many new experiences. With the holiday season quickly approaching, Christmas markets are shifting into high gear. This is a magical time to be in Europe, especially Germany. Between the food, the fun, and the festivities, you really don’t want to miss it!
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If you’ve been around the military for even a short amount of time, you’ve probably at least heard a mention of “Murphy’s Law,” the theory that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
It actually has a pretty science-y history with some philosophy and math thrown in. But you don’t need to know all of that.
All you need to know is that once your service member leaves, I can almost guarantee you will get to know Murphy.
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November is usually the time of year when people consider all that they have to be thankful for. We begin to express our gratitude for the important people in our lives and all the things that make our lives enjoyable. With all the ups and downs that come with military life, we sometimes need to take a step back to find the positive and this time of year is the perfect time to do it.
When taking a deeper look, there are plenty of things to be thankful for in this military journey that civilian life just can’t provide.
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In this military life, separation in the military is almost guaranteed. Between TDY, training, time in the field, deployments—the list goes on and on—our service members often have to take time away from their spouses and families. Often, we focus on that separation; some of us dwell on it, some of us try to ignore it, but it can still get at us despite our best efforts.
When our service member leaves, we’re faced with two choices: allow our emotions to take over, or try to look at the bright side. It never gets easier to have our loved ones gone, but we can try to see the good in it.
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