The Military Wife of Today
There have been many groups of women throughout the history of America that have helped to make this nation the land of the free and the home of the brave. Perhaps, the most overlooked group of influential women throughout the history of our nation has been military wives. As long as there has been military in our country there have been military wives. The military wife of today may have conveniences that make her role easier than ever before however, this does not make her life any more desirable. A military wife must be strong, patient, understanding, and loyal to her husband and her country. She will stop at nothing to make sure her husband is as comfortable and as happy as possible, even when he is thousands of miles away.
In the military, it is not the service member’s choice where they will be stationed or even if they will stay at that duty station throughout their career. A military wife will pack up all she owns to move to a place far away from her friends and family to be with her husband and will possibly do this several times. She will give up everything she knows to spend time with him. Or she will stay at home and wait for him if that is what they believe is best. She will patiently look forward to his return and never question her reasons for entering into such a marriage. Either way, she will do it whatever is best for her family’s future and do it with a smile. She understands that he has to do what he his told and she will never complain about it.
A military wife will deal with her husband’s deployment as a strong brave woman. She will stand next to him, smile, and take pictures with him on the day he leaves. She will never have felt as proud of him than on that day. She will soon fall apart and pick her self up again, repeatedly. A military wife will put her own needs aside to make sure that the package she is sending him makes it to the post office “today”. She will send a package on every birthday, holiday, and two or three between. She will become a professional at packing the comforts of home into an 11-inch by 8.5-inch by 5.5-inch box. She could also pack a bowling ball into the same box if her husband asked her to. The clerk at the post office becomes a friend rather than a stranger due her constantly picking up boxes and dropping off packages.
During deployment a military wife will also check her e-mail between ten and a hundred times a day, just to see if her husband has had time to send her a short message. He usually works between twelve and fifteen hours a day, in a desert and she understands when he doesn’t have time, but she continuously checks anyways. She will sleep with her phone by her side her every night. When a twelve-digit number is calling her phone at four in the morning she does not hesitate to answer because she knows it is her husband calling. She doesn’t get upset when after five minutes on the phone with him the call is disconnected. It can happen repeatedly and she is just happy to have heard his voice and know that he is alive and well.
While he is away a military wife will not hesitate to take over all shared responsibilities. She will mother, cook, clean, do the accounting, and take care of the cars, the lawn, and the pets. Also, she may possibly be working non-stop to help them with their future. She will stay very busy during the day and cry herself to sleep occasionally at night due to the pain missing him has caused. She will worry about him and patiently wait for him until he returns. A military wife will be proud that she can handle everything on her own while he fights for the country they both love.
Not all women are capable of dealing with everything that is involved with being a military wife. The women that can’t live the military life find out shortly after entering into it. Those who can, will do anything it takes to make their marriage stronger than they had ever dreamed of. They will ignore the things others will say such as, “How do you do it” or “My husband went to Europe once on business.” They know that standing behind their husband and his love for his country is their number one priority. A military wife would not change anything about her life except to have the man she loves home more often.
1 comment:
Wow. Loved it. Good job. And best of luck.
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