Hey scbelle--how are you doing with the recent revelations of a terror plot in Germany? Hope you're ok!

Married to a 1979 West Point grad. (he's also an Aggie & a Longhorn). Have lived in 10 states. Usually each assignment is 2 years but some have been 9 months (really hard on the kids). My D went to 3 different High Schools and my son went to 2. It sucked for them b/f the internet was invented but now their Facebooks show friends in all 50 states. D is in an SEC sorority and son will soon be a lieutenant in the Air Force. I'm now an empty nester and bored. I'm always baffled by the girls who want to go to the same college as their H.S. friends and join the same sororities. It's like tring to hold on to your childhood. I say "cut the ties, make new friends, and see the world".

Thanks for the thoughts! I'm doing well over here. I was a little freaked out when the news broke, especially since the towns they were looking at attacking were towns that I have visited/are nearby. But, if the Polizei are tracking down the remaining suspects, then I have no fears. They put a hurtin' on people! :p My husband had a SPC in his unit that was beat with billy clubs by the polizei for breaking into his own house!

Well I am glad you're doing well scbelle and that you feel secure. I know it must not be easy being overseas when something like that comes up.

Happy military news
 

One of my favorite students (Tri-Delt) is married to a Marine who missed the birth of his son because he was in Iraq. He didn't get to see Jake until he was 3 months old. He was again deployed - and Whitney was again pregnant. I don't know what all was involved, but they got John home from Iraq in time for Olivia's birth last Wednesday! We are all thrilled!

That's great that he was able to do that, because it cannot always happen.

My husband always jokes that we are going to get pregnant, he will go on a 6 month deployment, and get back just in time for the birth so that he has to miss all the complaining!

www.thisisforthesoldiers.org

A friend forwarded this petition to me -- it is to solicit help from Congress to get our vets quicker mental health attention when they come home from combat.

I myself am an army reservist... married to an active duty guy. We live on post and it has been an interesting experience. Still pretty new to the whole military lifestyle-- we have not quite been in for two years. LOL

Thanks for your service orchid2!

Thank you for posting that. I think it's a disgrace if we ask people to put their lives on the line for us and then don't support them properly when they come home wounded/traumatised/etc (Walter Reed, etc.) I shall go sign that petition now.

Another great org that is committed to helping vets who come back from war traumatized is Give an Hour. If you (or any people you know) happen to be counselors, social workers, therapists, etc.,they can sign up to donate at least one hour a week for servicemembers (and their families) who are dealing with problems stemming from their service. www.giveanhour.org

Navy Wife right here :)

I didn't think to search for a thread that already existed, duh! Ok, just ignore the thread I started over in D&R. My boyfriend is a captain in the Army and will be pcs-ing to Ft. Campbell after Christmas and the unit he's assigned to has already deployed which means he will too once he gets there.... I dated a deployed soldier once before but we broke up while he was over there. The relationship with my current boyfriend is much more serious though, so I'm really hoping we can keep it together while he's gone...

SthrnZeta:

The good news, communication is much easier than it used to be before email, so that should you keep your relationship going. If you're committed to each other, you can make this work. The bad news--sometimes operations take them away from email or email goes down, so you'll need some patience, but it is better than waiting for the US Postal Service.

Speaking of the Post Office--they have a set of boxes you can order for care packages. It contains three sizes of boxes, two of which are flat rate, mail for $8. You also get address lables, customs forms and a huge roll of tape so there is no need to buy anything. It's free, and I got mine by calling the postal service. It was delivered right to my front door. And, of course, he'll be able to send you mail for free, so send along some paper, pens and envelopes for him.

Hopefully his unit FRG (Family Readiness Group) will be open to keeping you in the loop (most are open to girlfriends, as long as the solider gives the contact info). The FRG will help you know what's going on and frequently shares details of when the unit is coming home, celebrations etc. If nothing else, there is a board over on military.com for families and friends, and the people there seem really supportive. You might give that a look.

I feel fortunate--my husband calls me pretty often, at least once a week, if not more. We get to talk for at least 15-20 minutes, which is enough to catch up on things. Its weird--the frequency he calls almost makes me feel like he's not really where he is...and its made this whole thing easier. Hopefully your boyfriend will have access to phone as well.

There are some women on GC with LOTS of mil spouse experience, so don't be afraid to reach out and ask. We'll be thinking about you and him.

LPI, thanks for that post. I have a little experience with this as I said before (back in 2004) so I know all about the importance of letters and care packages. I'll definitely check out the freebie package from the USPS - neat idea! He's an officer and he's comm. so it shouldn't be too hard to hear from him I wouldn't think. I just have to make sure he puts me on the FRG list so I'll be in the know. The other guy didn't and I was lucky enough to find some people on an online forum who were willing to give me some info since their hubbies were in the same unit. I actually have already started checking out the military.com forums - I wish I could remember the forum I used to be on back in '04! Oh, well, this forum may be just as good or better than that other one I used. I figured there were probably a lot of women in my situation on GC so I'm glad I found this thread. Thanks so much for the support. I'm sure I'll be posting more on the topic as the day approaches (like I said, sometime in January I think...) but he'll be leaving the area after Christmas and we'll most likely spend New Years at Ft. Campbell (although I hear it's near Nashville so that could be fun!).