Military Mom Exclusive! WIN a $500 Makeover and FREE Sitter!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Dittman on May 8, 2009 at 2:47pm

For me, I'm the military mom of an Army girl and her husband - also Army - both are being deployed for a year in sunny Afghanistan - one next week about May 13, 2009 and one about August 15, 2009. Right before my girl deploys she'll bring her two toddlers, Joe (3 in October) and Sophie (2 in late January) to live with us for 9-12 months - until one of them returns to this country -
It's traumatic to have two of my immediate family going back in the war zone - my daughter has deployed three times before - but not for such a long period of time; my son-in-law has only been deployed once before - We have had Joe before for a 3 month stint, as well as me going to my daughter's for a few months, when she was pregnant with Sophie and her husband was deployed.
It's so odd to have been an "empty nester" for a very long time and now we, my husband and I, find ourselves in this parenting situation for two little ones. We are looking forward to it, dreading the deployments, and marveling how being a parent really never ends. But I'm an Army mom and that's a very unique experience.
It will be interesting to do my work (I work at home) and be a "mom" at the same time - sure, I worked when my kids were little and living at home, but now my work is done at home and now I will be re-experiencing toddlers at the same time - I keep trying to "plan" a schedule of sorts to how I will do this and I will of course, but it's been almost 30 years since we had toddlers in the house - wow, life changes in a heartbeat - doesn't it?

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Permalink Reply by Lisa@CrazyAdventuresinParenting on May 8, 2009 at 5:27pm

Hi there! I'm Lisa, army wife and mother to six children, currently stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana. I'm happy to report my husband is stateside and will be through this assignment here, however, we're stationed a remote area with little-to-nothing to do that doesn't require a long car trip or a hefty amount of money to do. Everything costs an absolute fortune - each sport is over $50 a child. Every after-school activity does as well. My daughter wanted to try out for her high school's cheerleading team - $600+ if she would've made it. So, as you can imagine, for six children, it hasn't been easy thing to endure, especially when there's not a lot to do to begin with, and we were pretty active in our children playing sports at our last post. Everything here costs double, each child, what we've paid previously.

This post hasn't been easy to deal with, on so many more levels, complete with a lot of bureaucratic red tape as only the military can issue for everything you can imagine - to get the kids enrolled, to get them in sports, to get thing fixed, heck even to get us into a house that fits us bedroom wise, only size-wise we took a 300 square foot hit. In essence, we feel like giants living in a miniature house. We had to give away our furniture to the movers when they arrived because it wouldn't all fit. It was heartbreaking that this is what the so-called "best" they could do for us.

The houses are old, dilapidated, and in need of major, major repairs. We lost 2 brand new computers within 2 weeks of each other at Thanksgiving based on faulty wiring housing won't fix, and it hasn't gotten much better since (there's definitely a problem when housing recommends surge protectors for your surge protectors and won't do anything to fix the real problem). In fact, housing has us buying tons of extras in order to exist in this house - our A/C is run off of ground water, so in the typical Louisiana 100 degree heat we'll be lucky to cool our home below 85 (ground water A/Cs run a mere 15 degrees below outside air temperatures). I'm not exactly sure why they think suddenly moving here means we're made of money, but most certainly we've done nothing but go broke slowly because of this post.

We've been making do, as only military families know how to do, adapt, overcome, and conquer. We're still stuck at "adapt", and we just can't seem to engage. It's been hard. I hope it'll happen soon.

With all that has happened in our time here, I appear to have aged quite a bit. I have a lot of gray hair (and I'm only 32) and the bags under my eyes and wrinkles have doubled. I appear old, yet I'm in my prime. Don't ever let anyone ever tell you stress doesn't affect you, because it does. I'm living proof.

Thank you so much for this wonderful chance. Regardless of who wins, I'm so thankful to see more being done for our brave men and women who live our life, and go through similar struggles. Every last one of you are in my thoughts everyday.

~Lisa

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Permalink Reply by Ryann on May 8, 2009 at 6:31pm

My husband just enlisted in the AirForce this March and he'll be leaving this summer. So far life is the same and I can't wait to see all the changes as I become an even more official military mom.

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Permalink Reply by Jamielee Kimball on May 8, 2009 at 7:15pm

I think the life of a military wife is one that can hardly been written into words. In the last three years, my husband traveled on a boat for the Navy for 9 months per year. One 6 month deployment and various deployments throughout the other 6 months ranging from a few days to three weeks. It seems like every time he was about to leave, something disasterous would happen. One time, I was driving him to the boat to leave for a month long deployment and we were hit by a bus. Our vehicle was totaled and I had a concussion. Two of my husband's supervisors came to the scene, one to bring him to the boat and one to bring me home. I was left to deal with the disaster, alone, for an entire month. Not to mention we are stationed in Hawaii and I know no one from here. He is constantly going to boards to go to Iraq and everytime I wonder if he will have to go and for how long. Whenever he was underway, we could never communicate by phone, only email which was very moody. While I signed up for this, :) it is very hard to be this strong wife and mother always waiting on land, preparing to get to know my husband yet another time. This is my reality, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

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Permalink Reply by Bridget on May 8, 2009 at 7:23pm

I have been an official army wife since last September, when my husband deployed to Iraq. He had been in the National Guard so our life is quite a bit different now. We have two boys, ages 4 and two and a half. It has been a fascinating transition making all of the decisions all of the time, being both mom and dad has been an adventure. I am the good cop and bad cop all in one. I came to the conclusion that I cannot worry about my husband, I love him and have to trust that he is safe, or I am not sure how I would be able to face my sons everyday. After almost eight months we walk a very fine balance, the boys have adjusted well but every now and again the missing gets to be too much and there are tears lots of tears. We rally and move on. I am more grateful than the internet than I ever thought I would be, we chat as often as we can, the boys actually have a harder time when they see him, they do not really understand why he cannot come home.
The most important thing I have learned is not to take your spouse for granted, and that military wives are probably the strongest women I have ever met in my life and they deserve as much praise as their counterparts that are away.

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Permalink Reply by Tamara Shurling on May 8, 2009 at 7:26pm

I am the proud mom of a daughter in the US Navy. She is deployed right now and won't be back until sometime hopefully in August. As a mom it is so hard not to be able to pick up the phone and call her, or to be able to see her whenever I want. I am really gonna miss giving her a big hug and kiss on Mother's Day.

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Permalink Reply by Leah Rachel Ouzounidis on May 8, 2009 at 7:31pm

I have been an Army wife for almost 3 years. Of that time we have only been actually together about a year and a half. Our first 14 months of marriage my husband John was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. It was hard. No doubt about that. But we preserved. We worked hard together to remain positive and always show each other that the day we were reunited would be one of the best days of our lives. Sure enough, we were right. When we were finally reunited in November of 2007 and we were stationed once again in Fort Richardson, in Anchorage Alaska. Soon after we found out we were having our first child. We were thrilled.
Fast forward to the present.
We are now still in Anchorage and living together with our beautiful little girl Gabriela Eden. She is the joy of our lives. Its so amazing what we have gone through since this journey of joining the military. I love Alaska but I am very homesick to say the least.I am a Stay at home mom while my husband is still working with Brigade for Fort Richardson.
I miss my family and friends back home on the East coast but I look forward to see what the future has in store for our lives.
Good luck to everyone that enters this. All Military spouses make a lot of sacrifices. Its not easy but its a part of the journey. God Bless all our Men and Women. Mothers and Fathers. Daughters and Sons who are serving our country. And God Bless all of those same people who have lost their lives serving our country.

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Permalink Reply by Renee on May 8, 2009 at 8:20pm

I am the proud mother of a United States Marine stationed in California, I'm in Ohio. I don't get to see him much, maybe once every two years. Every time he gets ready to go over seas he comes home for a few weeks. I sometimes forget he's a man with a son of his own. No matter what, he will always be my little boy.

The hardest part of being a mom with a child in the service is not having them around on holiday's, birthday's and funerals when the person that has passed is a special grandparent. Knowing he is alone during these times just breaks my heart. The only thing that makes me feel better is when I hear his voice.

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Permalink Reply by Sweet Serendipity on May 8, 2009 at 8:43pm

I grew up as a Navy brat. My father is a retired Navy Captain. He was gone quite a bit and my parents ended up divorcing because of "growing apart." I swore growing up that'd I've never even date a man in the military. Eh hem, now I'm married to one. Never say never, right?! My husband is nearing the end of his 10th year of enlistment in the Navy and we've been married for almost 8 years. We've been through several deployments both long and short. In fact, the first 3 years we were married, he was gone much more than he was home. Some how we've managed to have 3 kids in the process and he was gone for two of the pregnancies, but fortunately made it back for the births...by the skin of his teeth. It has not been easy dealing with the separation, anxiety, worry, stress, loneliness, etc. But hey, I knew what I was getting into, right? And we have a beautiful family. I wouldn't change it for the world. I am proud of his service and proud to be a military family. We do make many sacrifices but we have a great deal of pride in the country and we are teaching valuable lessons to our children.

That is the hardest part I would have to say, though. Kids don't always understand and the separation can be unbearable at times. Still, they are proud of their daddy and know that he protects them and all Americans. God bless all who do!

Thank you for the wonderful giveaway. It is so nice to see military families recognized in a special way. Especially military moms who often suffer silently with few kudos for all the hard work. Way to go momlogic!

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Permalink Reply by Tobi Wilkinson on May 8, 2009 at 9:07pm

My husband, Sgt. Joel Wilkinson, has served in the Army for the last five years. We have been married for seven and a half years and we have two adorable children. We are currently stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.

My husband's first deployment lasted for 15 months. I can say with certainty it was the most challenging and interesting experience of my life so far. When my husband deployed I was left behind with two small children both under the age of three. I was petrified at the thought of being a single parent for such a lengthy period. While I did visit my family and friends in Colorado and vice versa, for the most part I was alone.

The most important lesson I learned was never to take my husband for granted. He plays an integral role in our family and I never realized how much he did until he was gone. The second most important lesson I learned was to focus my attention on my children and remind them that Daddy was serving our country to protect them. Since they were just babies I'm not sure how much they understood but I could tell they missed their Dad.

More than anything I'm grateful to know I'm stronger than I thought. Deployment is coming up again for us in November. Bring it on! A phrase in the Army is, "Drink Water, Drive on." Basically it means "JUST KEEP GOING!" Like the energizer bunny the Army wives never quit!!

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Permalink Reply by Rita Sheppard on May 9, 2009 at 3:25am

I'm the mom of a career military son. He'll be leaving soon on his third tour overseas -- this time to Afghanistan. I fear for his life every time he leaves until he is home safe again. He has two beautiful sons who need him. This will be his last deployment before his retirement so I will pray for him to come home safely once more.

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Permalink Reply by Tamara Lynn Service-Grgas on May 9, 2009 at 8:46am

The reality of being a military mom is to understand that you are a single parent at least 1/2 of the time. At least that is my reality, my husband deploys for 1/2 of the year. I use as many resources on base as I can to help me through the tough days and I try to lend a helping hand to other mill spouses when I can.

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