Military Spouse receives rewards, at home

Being a Military Spouse:
I have been a military spouse for many years. I can only speak for myself. I believe there is a saying, "when things fall apart". I have worked in offices part time (and sometimes full time), but only to support our family when we needed the extra cash, but not for my career and certainly not because I wanted to. When I had our first child, I gave up that opportunity to follow my career and instead, had to make the sacrifice to support my husbands. If I had not choosen to be a stay-at-home mom (with the occasional job at an office), then our family would have fallen apart. I don't know how women do it who work full time, have little children, and take care of the house, the clothes, the meals, the grocery shopping, the bills, the car maintance, homework nights, getting the kids to bed, to school, to the doctors, to the dentist, and all those other things that help make a family run smoothly. When my husband was deployed, it was me. When my husband was at training or on TDY, it was me. And even when my husband was at home, he was at work 50 hours a week and when you live in DC, you don't get home 30 minutes after you leave work, so it was me. I don't earn ribbons, I don't earn vacation hours, I don't earn promotions, I don't receive training, and at times it is hard, and sometimes, if I think about it long enough, I even resent it.

But then I realize that my husband could just as well resent his position as he doesn't have the ability to stay in the shower just a tad longer, choose what he's going to eat for dinner, watch the kids grow up before his eyes, or choose to spend a little extra time in the bed in the mornings. So it's a two way street and we have to be a team to make it worth. We both make sacrifices for each other and our family.

I cannot speak for everyone, but I know a lot of stay-at-home wives of military members who sacrifice their time and life just like I do to make our military member be a sucess in his career. Some of us had a choice to work and some of us do not. It's the way it is. I have known spouses who "partied" during the day, kicking back and not taking care of the family and then expected their spouses to come home and do the work.


There is a saying that behind every successful man is a great woman. I dislike that saying because I think that I am beside my husband, not behind him and there will be a day when the tables reverse. In the meantime, I will just set the table and he will eat there!