9 Reasons You Know You Are Married To A Soldier

I feel like the Army surrounds me, every day. My husband is now in the Nashville Guard, but we live near Fort Campbell, which is a very Army town. There is no getting away from Army life around here. Whether it is hearing that a friend’s husband is deploying soon, seeing at all the bumper stickers on the cars, or even hearing training on post, even from 15 minutes away.

I have been an Army wife for almost 13 years now, longer if you count his IRR time. Being a solder’s wife has been an interesting journey. Some of what we have dealt with has been so difficult and frustrating, other things, have been sweet and beautiful.

Here are 9 reasons you know you are married to a soldier:

1. You go to post, not base, but sometimes you still call it that.

Yes, you know it is an Army POST not base, but a lot of civilians call it that and sometimes you do too. Everyone knows what you are talking about.

2. Fort Campbell, Fort Carson, and Fort Bragg are on your wish list.

Everyone has places they want to go; some posts are more popular than others. What are your favorites?

3. People always ask you if you have watched Army Wives.

Yep, get asked this question all the time. And yes, I have watched Army Wives. And no, it isn’t just like our lives. Far from it in some episodes more than others.

4. Deployments. Deployments. Deployments. 

This could be my infantry wife side speaking, but Army life means deployments, at least in my experience. And while deployments are difficult, you can get through them, even if it is just one day at a time.

5. Army stuff, everywhere.

Whether they are coming home or getting ready to leave. Whether it’s your closet or your garage. Whether it is your car or theirs. Army stuff everywhere.

6. “First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along.
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.”

Enough said.

7. You shop at the PX, especially when you are overseas.

The exchange is the PX, not the BX. During my time as a military spouse, I haven’t heard many people mix that up, especially when you are overseas and the exchange is your Walmart.

8. You can get stationed in Hawaii, Alaska, or Germany, or all three.

Yes, you can. If you can go overseas, the Army does have a lot of OCONUS choices. And if you are lucky, you can go to more than one. Unless you are too homesick for the US, in which case there are plenty of CONUS based Army posts you could end up at too.

9. You know what an FRG is; sometimes you go, sometimes you stay home.

Yep, we have FRGs in the Army. While they don’t always work out and they might frustrate you, going to at least one FRG meeting when you get to a new duty station is a good idea. You never know, you might get lucky and end up in a good one.

While this blog post is about being married to a soldier, I would love to have guest posts based on other branches. If you are interested, please email me at julie@soldierswifecrazylife.com