military life

Let AAFMAA’s $5,000 CAP Loan Help with Your Summer Bucket List

Let AAFMAA’s $5,000 CAP Loan Help with Your Summer Bucket List

This is a sponsored post by AAFMAA! Let AAFMAA’s $5,000 CAP Loan Help with Your Summer Bucket List By Charlene Wilde AAFMAA Assistant Secretary MilSpouses are nothing if not resourceful. With school out and summer in full swing, it’s time for planning family fun, hustling kids to camps and activities, or tackling projects around the house. Personally, I can hardly wait for a break from the frenetic hum of lunch packing, homework, book orders, and running for the bus so I can enjoy a lazy morning with nowhere to be.  But money doesn’t grow on trees, and we all know …

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When You Miss Them

When You Miss Them

When you miss them, your heart can feel like it will never be the same. When you miss them, you feel that deployment ache, and know that no matter what, a part of that ache will be there until they return home. When you miss them, you have to find ways to make it through, to live your life, even with your hurting heart. As a military spouse, deployments will come. There is nothing we can really do about that. Some deployments will come more often than others, there will definitely be seasons, and you will figure out how to …

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When You Don’t Feel Strong Enough For Military Life

I couldn’t believe he was gone. I couldn’t believe this deployment had started. I couldn’t believe I had to go through this again. I certainly didn’t feel strong enough for this. I didn’t feel strong enough for the deployment. I didn’t feel strong enough for military life. And yet, somehow, the days went by. Somehow I made it through that deployment. Somehow I was strong enough to do just that. Through that deployment, and other past deployments, I realized something powerful. Not feeling strong enough to get through something doesn’t mean I am not strong enough to do so. Often …

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5 Military Spouse Friends You Need When You First PCS

When I first moved to Fort Campbell, I made friends with someone who grew up in the Clarksville area. While I didn’t go into the PCS with that goal, I just wanted to make friends, I realized how helpful that really was. She told me about a lot of the great places to take kids, where to get a nice meal and other things about the area I might not have been able to figure out on my own, at least not for a while. Most military spouses want to make friends when they PCS, but doing so isn’t always …

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A Military Dad

He wakes up early, leaving his sleeping children. He has to get to work. He puts on his uniform and stares at the calendar, they were running out of days. He knows he has to go, he knows this is his duty, but saying goodbye to those kids isn’t going to be easy. He packs his bag and sees his wife crying. He wishes this wasn’t going to be so hard for her. He never thought she would have to go through so many parenting seasons alone. He promises to write. He promises to call. He hopes he won’t be …

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What a Military Spouse Will Never Understand

I have been married to a soldier for almost two decades now. When we met, he was no longer active duty and ended up re-joining the Army after we had been married three years. As much as I can stand by and support him, there are things that I will never understand. There are things that a military spouse can never understand. I will never understand what it is like to say goodbye to my family, small children included, to put on the uniform and put myself in harm’s way. I will never understand what it is like to go …

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9 Reasons Why PCSing Can Be Amazing, in GIFs

Are you moving this summer? Summer is PCS season and so many military families will be going to a new duty station in the next few months. Some military families will be excited to PCS, and others, not as much. PCSing can be such an amazing thing. Moving is a fresh start, and while super stressful, can be an exciting part of military life. When I talk to military spouses who have been doing this forever, they have such a fantastic list of places their family has called home. In case you are feeling down about your future PCS, or …

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When An Introverted Military Spouse Needs To Make Friends

“Why are you so quiet?” I was asked this SO many times as a kid and you know what, I hated it so much. I was so shy, I had social anxiety I am sure, and I was an introvert. And because of that, I struggled a bit. Sure, with my best friends and family I could be super loud. I remember my parents telling me they were going to tape record (yep, 80s kid here) me and give it to my teachers. My shyness was really a struggle. I can remember people asking me questions and being TERRIFIED to …

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Five Ways To Help Prevent Veteran Suicide

This post is sponsored by Shepherd’s Men! Five Ways To Help Prevent Veteran Suicide It’s a tragedy: Every day, 22 U.S. veterans take their own lives – a needless loss of 8,000 service members a year. Too many veterans don’t get the help they need, but experts say everyone should get involved to help save a veteran’s life. The Problem Returning veterans may experience divorce, joblessness, homelessness and hopelessness. The often-devastating effects of mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-traumatic stress (PTS), plus the loss of their military community support, can cause a downward spiral. Symptoms of mTBI …

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Westgate Resorts, Gary Sinise and Gov. Ron DeSantis Host Thousands of Military Family Members in Orlando

Westgate Resorts will honor 1,500 U.S. military families, veterans and Gold Star families from across the nation with a free vacation at Westgate Vacation Villas & Town Center Resort in Orlando, May 10-12. The event continues Westgate Resorts’ and CEO David Siegel’s eight-year tradition of encouraging our nation’s heroes to spend quality time with their families.  Representing all branches of the military, more than 5,500 guests from 41 states, and Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., will enjoy complimentary accommodations and activities, including an inaugural 5K run, a resource fair featuring 25 military organizations, and admission to Westgate’s Shipwreck Island Water …

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