Saturday, January 8, 2011

Military women

The average age of the military wife\girlfriend is 18-20 years old. She isn’t old enough to buy a beer, but is old enough to manage a whole household on her own and maybe she has a kid. She probably never saw herself loving a man who was in the military, but she loves him regardless. Her penmanship has improved over the last few months, due to the excessive letter writing she has been doing. She cries a lot,because she misses the man she swore to love. Her life isn’t complete without him. She looks very tired, because of her many nights without sleep, due to a late night phone call that never came or a call that came and kept her up all night, just because she heard his voice, she is too overjoyed to sleep. As a wife, she is classified as a dependent, but she is totally independent. She tends to her household, her kids, her school work, and her job, all without her husband. She manages to wear a smile, even though inside shes crying. She understands that the man she loves has to go far away. She understand that he can be taken away from her in a moments notice. She feels a great sense of pride and probably cries whenever she hears the National Anthem, sees a flag blowing in the breeze, or watches the news and hears about another death in Iraq,she worries that it might be him. She goes weeks without a call or a letter, but she writes him whenever she gets a free moment. She knows how to convert civilian time into military time. She knows how to iron his clothes and how to get the creases just right. Before he left she used to complain if she didn’t see him for a day or two, but now she gets annoyed when she hears someone complaining about not seeing their boyfriends. She may not have see him for months but she remembers everything about him, every scar he has, the way he smells. She has every picture of him and them out and in frames, she stares at them for hours on end, she has read every letter at least 40 times. Even though her man is a half a world away, she still manages to go on with her life, as he would want her to. You may not know what she looks like, but as soon as you see her in the store you’ll know that her man is a world away without even having to speak to her. She’s the one who’s half frowning half smiling, she has at least one Support out Troops pen that she wears and one thats on her car. Half her wardrobe is based on his military branch. She never knew that could love the color camouflage green, tan, navy blue, red or black so much. Next time you see her, you’ll know her, thank her for what the man she loves is doing. She will greatly appreciate it and she will smile and thank you, and just because you thanked her she'll smile the rest of the day!

3 comments:

  1. So true! It's a hard life for anyone, but I often look at these fresh out of high school wives and can't help but feel a little sad that they won't get to experience that side of life that most 18 year old girls get.

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  2. I absolutely loved this and needed it. Thanks for the post. (:

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  3. Birdie- yeah...I'm only 17 and yeah we're engaged but we decided to wait for a while. It would be great to get married tomorrow and I would be deliriously happy but I have things that I need to accomplish first. Like school lol. And I think it would be a good idea to let him get a lil up in rank for financial reasons. And there things he needs to do as a young Marine. Experiences he needs to have without me there.


    JTB- Yay!! I'm glad I could help :) I needed it too when I saw it

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Yay! I love reading what you have to say :)