Persuasive Essay About Military Life

Being a military child and wife for 19 years has made me so much more patriotic, than a lot of other I know. It has made me more aware of the freedoms we have, why we have them, and the sacrifices that have been made by others so we could keep them. A world that people seem to forget about if they do not watch the news and one that they do not know much about. Not only do come civilian people not consider what current military families go through on a daily basis, but also we forget about those military families in the past during other wars that helped give our country the freedoms we have today.
I have come to find out that Military couples are no different from anyone else. We have weddings, honeymoons, children, expectations, goals and

life issues like most. However, a military marriage poses many challenges and differences than the average civilian marital union. There is a saying amongst military spouses that, “we are our husband's mistress, and the military is his wife." Although not a great comparison, it best describes how military relationships function, versus that of a civilian marriage. Time together is usually limited, and when the military calls our service members jump into action without a thought. Military spouses refer to "getting the leftovers" most of the time. The majority of civilian spouses other half do not have to jump at a phone calls notice and leave for an unknown time frame.
It’s been asked “Why don’t you guys just plan ahead, or just drop what you’re doing and come visit.” What's that and it’s really not that simple. Considering the military is the be-all and end-all of planning things out, you would think that planning your life around it would be easy. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. The fact is your vacations, annual gatherings and life events, and whether your spouse will be able to attend, are all subject to the needs of the military. There are countless moms have given birth alone, attended their children’s high school graduation, or even a funeral for an immediate family member alone, thanks to the needs of Uncle Sam, and deployment or training schedules changing.
Like any relationship, a spouse wants to protect the person they're married to. Sometimes we avoid telling each other things to avoid worry. In military marriages, this happens frequently with so many service members serving overseas in a combat zone. Military spouses usually just accept that they may not ever fully know what their spouse faces and deals with on a daily basis.
When people marry the person they love so that they can spend their life together and be with each other daily. For the majority of civilian marriages, they get this luxury. I married my husband for those reasons, except the first time he deployed he was gone for 6 months, we had just moved from Georgia to Southern CA, where I literally knew no one. Also that was the time when 9-11 occurred. I could not just pick up the phone and ask if he was ok, as the military bases worldwide were on lockdown. Some military spouses are offended when a civilian spouse suggests how hard a time she is having, because her husband went on a week-long business trip. I venture to say when you miss someone you just miss them no matter the length of time they are gone. Yet keeping the flames burning and a marriage going can be challenging when a 6 month to a year-long business trip interferes.
It’s one thing to move whenever you want and wherever you want as a couple. It’s a different experience for a family moving hundreds of thousands of miles away every three to four years. The majority of military couples are excited about the idea of moving to new places and exploring unknown cultures. However for many, this lifestyle can take a huge toll on their marriage and family. Some people and especially children do not take change very well. As I know both civilian and military personnel move, with the military family it is with much greater frequency.

Death is something we all fear.

I always feared when my husband was deployed, this men in uniform possibly walking into my work or to my home, carrying that little folder under their arm. No one wants to think about losing their husband or wife or anyone close for that matter. Unfortunately, when it comes to being married to the military it seems as if the unknown is placed in our eyesight more frequently. It's a hard sight for any person to see a service member killed in action or from complications of war, but it’s even harder when you know your spouse is in a combat zone or is suffering from the after effects of combat. It can be downright stressful, both for spouses and for children. After a certain point, I could no longer watch the news. My friends and family would ask if I had seen what is going on now with Afghanistan, and I kindly had to rely many times, that I cannot watch the news anymore, that if I needed to know anything important I would find out through other means.

Would I change ever being a military spouse to be a civilian spouse, no I really don’t think so. I’ve lived on both United States coasts, I find that I am much more accepting of others than some of my civilian friends and although I never really got the chance for a career to take root for myself, I am grateful for that chance now. My husband is retired from the Navy now, and has a regular job, he still works with in the military realm as a civilian contract instructor. I will never be considered a civilian’s wife, now I am known as US Navy Veterans’

wife