What is one thing you like and one thing you dislike about living the military life? :)


This got me thinking... obviously being a military spouse has both advantages and disadvantages.  Obvious and not.  When you marry someone owned by the government, you willingly accept the responsibilities of an entirely different lifestyle.  Rather than having a 9 to 5 clock-in and clock-out kind of job, my husband has an on-call-drop-everything-leave-tomorrow-for-a-year kind of job.  I'm fortunate in the fact that my husbands job has a lot of stateside non-deployable options.  But since he is government property, his future could be different with the snap of a finger.

That part is obviously not favorable by most military wifes.  BUT there are advantages to being a military spouse.  Don't believe me?  Let me persuade you.

Likeeeeeee...  The opportunities afforded to both me and my husband throughout his military career.  This is a HUGE plus in my book.  I'm not just talking about the opportunity to live in many beautiful places my little big Kansas butt may not have otherwise got to visit let alone live.  I'm also talking about the amazing opportunity for new friends.  Friends from all across the nation AND world.  Friends I may not have otherwise crossed paths with if it weren't for this crazy mutual journey: the military roller coaster.  Mostly though I'm talking about the opportunity my husband has been given to establish a successful career.  A career that will easily transfer over into the "civilian world".  Pre-Army Rob had opportunities don't get me wrong... but the Army has and will open so many more doors than before.  He will retire with 20+ years networking experience.  He will have built networks and connections only available through the military community.  He will feel confident in his skills to rock anything the future hands him.  And that my friends is irreplaceable.  The pride I feel for my husband through his professional military career is immeasurable... which is the best part about this whole military life.

On the flip side... my biggest dislike about the military life?  How different it is from the "civilian world".  Many people just don't get it.  Understandable? Yes.  Frustrating for me? Yes.  It is hard to understand why we do things... why we made the decision we made for our future... why the Army is doing what it is doing with my husband... etc.  I understand that.  But it is even harder for me to explain why things are done the way they are.  They just are... It is a whole entire different separate rule filled world.  Key word: DIFFERENT.  I just can't explain that..

But this might help those 'why' questions in the future:
"You know how people say 'Why do you do it?' 
The truth is when you love someone, 
you really don't have a choice other than to just do it."