Army Wife In Training

Soooo I'm marrying an American Soldier, so what?

HA! I wish it were that simple. The army is not a career, it is not a side job, it is not a hobby, nor is it a joke. The army is a LIFESTYLE. I am slowly but learning this first hand.

When me and Michael first started dating all I could think about was the fact that I don’t know the first thing about the army, and that I never pictured it my life, but who cares I’m dating this sexy dude! He can be my own Channing Tatum on Dear John just without the break up. Again, if only if were that simple.

There’s some things I have grown to learn over the past 8 months about the army, I am no expert but I do know some...

1.   There is never a plan
2.   They do not care one bit about your home life
3.  There are LOTS of little codes that stand for things and they expect everyone to know this secret code language

4.  They like to embarrass the soldiers of lower ranks
5.  In the south and the east coast, soldiers really don’t get the respect they deserve because there are so many, and I think that is ridiculous.
6.  There are a lot of INCREDIBLY strong women standing behind the men of our country

7.  You never know what is going to happen, and the people in charge can change their mind whenever they want. Kind of going back to #1.

8.  The benefits are really good, but for all the crap you have to put up with, they dang well better be!
9.  Everyone looks good in an army uniform, especially my fiancé. They kind of hold the same power as a baseball uniform; everyone magically becomes attractive when they wear one.

10.      Again to add emphasis, NOTHING ever goes your way.

11.      They take their sweet old time to make huge decisions that affect, living, deployment, job titles, ranks, and so on…we are ALWAYS “waiting to find out”

No this list does not cover it all but you get the idea, it’s freaking hard. And yes it does take a lot of me and I’m not even the solider!!

I have come to realize that I have one huge purpose as a soon to be “army wife: (ps: I hate that cheesy phrase) it is to love and support my soon to be husband in whatever way needed! I need to stay strong and supportive in whatever the army asks of us, yes I would love to sit there and complain to Michael about how much all of this sucks and can’t he just have a regular job? How are we going to live our life always uncertain? And the list of complaints could go on, but they don’t. There is no reason to add to the stress and contention of the army by bringing it home. My job is to create a home full of peace and shelter from that crazy life.

There will be days that I want to walk right up to every sergeant on base and give them a piece of my mind filled with some not so nice words, but most of my days will be realizing how blessed I am to be living the life that I do, and looking over at my gorgeous husband every night (that he is home) will be an excellent reminder. 

PS: Thanks to the ever so helpful site Pinterest for helping me find some cheesy but true pictures to get my point across!