military family's, what is it like?

mom2raven

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Before my husband and I met, he had been in the Marine Corp's. He did four years and was honorably discharged. It is one of the things he is most proud of.
Then he got out, moved to Florida, was misrable there, came home, met me, and so the story goes. He got his college degree while we had our first 2 kids, then we moved here because there were more opportunities here. He hates his job, he feels no sense of pride.
Last night he came home and told me he wanted to ask me a question and wanted an honest answer. He wanted to know what I would think if he joined again as an officer.
I guess I was not shocked, maybe I knew the question was coming. I really don't know how I feel. I want him to be happy, I want him to enjoy his job, I want him to feel proud of what he is doing. But what would that mean for our family?
Does anyone here have a military family, or grew up in one? What is/was it like?

Thank you. I wanted to gather my head before I encourage or discourage him. I think it would be a shame for me to discourage something that he really wanted to do, but I want to know what it would mean for us and our kids.
 

snosrap5

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I am an army brat, my dad served in the Army for 20 years. My husband joined the Army a month before we married and served 13 years before getting out. I now have a son who is in the Navy.

The first thing that comes to mind is the separation. It's horrible and that is from my heart. Especially since Iraq. The not knowing is hard.

I will say that having a paycheck every month on time guaranteed is great. Medical insurance is another blessing. It's not perfect or the best but at least you have it.

Military housing is optional. You don't have to live on the base. I will say there is nothing like a military community coming together to help in a time of crisis.

Ultimately this has to be your husband's decision and you as his wife to be there and support whatever he decides. There is nothing wrong though in telling him it scares you.

Wishing you and your family all the best.
 

stacyd1987

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Originally Posted by snosrap5

The first thing that comes to mind is the separation. It's horrible and that is from my heart. Especially since Iraq. The not knowing is hard.

I will say that having a paycheck every month on time guaranteed is great. Medical insurance is another blessing. It's not perfect or the best but at least you have it.

Military housing is optional. You don't have to live on the base. I will say there is nothing like a military community coming together to help in a time of crisis.
All of those are good points plus you got other military families there for you like an extended family. You get to travel more than the average civilian and even though the kids won't like it much because of their friends, there's always email and IM for them.

I'm an Army wife and honestly I love the military. Not because of the military itself but because of the people that are in it. I can't really say that I've experienced the hardships of having a husband overseas because mine has been lucky enough to not be assigned to Iraq yet but I do have a brother who's been there at least 6 times and is going again in about a month.

I might add though, that if your DH goes in as an officer, you'll both be in so much better shape than as an enlisted!
 

lillekat

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I grew up in a Royal Air Force family - we were posted (as a family) to RAF Lossiemouth when I was still pretty small, and we settled there. You do have the option of not being moved around all the time, even though my dad was sent out on detachment from time to time. There was a little while were we didn't see too much of him, but then he became a two-hat (double-seargent), and stayed on base to instruct engineering. It was a very safe and settled life for us. He would work 9-5, monday to friday - things were really good. I miss the smell of gorilla snot (soap) and oil on his shirts. It's one of my fondest memories of my dad, being all dressed up in his uniform - I would get to wear his hat - and the smell of his shirts when he came home again.

I've no idea what it's like for an army, naval family..... but as an air force family, we had it really good.
 
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mom2raven

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thank you everyone for your responses. I think I am going to encourage him. To see him happy with what he is doing again would be worth almost anything.
 
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