Joining the Silent Ranks

I came from an AirForce family. I can remember when my dad was sent to Korea for a year my mom moved my brother and I to my grandparents in St. Louis. I never really thought much about it, I was upset to be leaving friends, but now I have a whole new understanding of what she did and why. Anyone will agree that the AF life is so different from the Army life, but I feel that being an AF brat helped to prepare me a *little* better for being a military wife. It helped me to understand that dads/husbands are not choosing to leave their families, they are doing their job, that there is a line between the military life and the civilian life, even though you are a kid or a wife, you are still apart of that military life, everything you do can effect his career. My dad actually was deployed quite a bit early in his career, and for a period of time he had to go out to the field for 3 or 4 days and be off 3 or 4 days, that was a constant rotating schedule. We were used to not having dad around. He missed a couple birthdays, and a xmas and easter here and there. That was just how our life was. My mom had to be responsible for everything, and I never realized how hard it had to be for her with two kids. I am glad that with this deployment we do not have kids yet, so its just been me and my dog. I dont' think I could have handled a kid, at least not very well. So choosing to join the ranks of the military wife seemed an easy choice. John and I had been in love since we were high school sweethearts, so this would be a new adventure for us, and I loved him, simple as that, no matter what branch he went into, even if it was the Army! Becoming a wife was a huge deal for me, I felt that my mom had put on a great show of a good wife....the whole cooking and cleaning bit. I think I was doing a pretty good job at it, but I only had about 7 months of it before he deployed last year to Iraq. So apart of me wonders if I am a good wife that does these things or was I trying to impress him for those short months we had before he deployed? Will I be able to keep up this good wife thing all next year when he is home? When we first got married we were able to get a house on-post pretty quick. Even though we had been together for so long and known each other even longer, this was the first time we had lived together. We finally had a place to call our home. We moved my stuff from San Antonio the very next day that we got the call from Housing. I remember one night we were unpacking, he was in the living room messing with the electronics(of course) and I was in the hallway trying to sort out some stuff for the rooms, and then the song "you and me" by Lifehouse came on, john walked over to me in the hall and asked me to dance with him, we did, right there in the middle of our mess and boxes. It was a truly sweet memory. I quickly realized that it seemed impossible for john to get up to go to Pt and NOT wake me up. Eventually he mastered the art of being somewhat quiet...or I learned to ignore the noise...and he would wait till he got home from PT to wake me up, by jumping on top of me, yes sweaty and all! At least 730 was much better than 545. I am not a morning person in anyway, I hate morning, but it was hard to wake up pissed at the world when your husband jumps on top of you and starts singing to you with a huge smile on his face, even if it is 730am. Most nights I was able to have dinner ready by 530pm so that when he got home he didnt have to wait too long. At first I really didnt notice much of what makes a civilian wife different from a military wife. Now after reading so many posts and stories about the things we go through and experience, even the small stuff, I can see the difference. I am proud to be a military wife, even if that means dealing with tricare, housing office, your community LNCO, your husbands chain of command, holding down the fort by yourself while you wait for your husband to come home, knowing the dangers he is in everyday. I am proud to be an Army Wife.