Military Spouses, Parents and Families

[Army Wife'79]

I always thought it was tacked on to graduation of that course but I could be wrong. We never paid attention and 27 years later here we are! I will advise any/all military wives do not plan anything past the immediate future or you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I learned this the hard way. In the Army, life is fluid and the truth changes daily. Don't buy airline tix in advance b/c you may be changing flights; don't buy a house when you get your orders b/c the orders may change (mine changed 10 days before the moving van).

My wedding invitations were out when the Colonel changed the training schedule to include our wedding, and no, he couldn't change it. Since all the groomsmen were also Captains, I was freaking out. Finally, because training was only an hour away, the Col. asked who was invited to our wedding and those who raised their hands (including H) got to come home, shower for the first time in 7 days, and go to our wedding in dress blues and return to training the next day. It was pretty funny b/c the bachelors who normally would blow off a wedding, all came (just so they could come home, get cleaned up and eat good food). They bolted soon after the ceremony but at least the Colonel saw them there. Our honeymoon also was postponed for a couple of weeks. Keep in mind, we had checked the training schedule before printing the invitations.

[Smallwondergurl]

Originally Posted by Army Wife'79

I always thought it was tacked on to graduation of that course but I could be wrong. We never paid attention and 27 years later here we are! I will advise any/all military wives do not plan anything past the immediate future or you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I learned this the hard way. In the Army, life is fluid and the truth changes daily. Don't buy airline tix in advance b/c you may be changing flights; don't buy a house when you get your orders b/c the orders may change (mine changed 10 days before the moving van).

My wedding invitations were out when the Colonel changed the training schedule to include our wedding, and no, he couldn't change it. Since all the groomsmen were also Captains, I was freaking out. Finally, because training was only an hour away, the Col. asked who was invited to our wedding and those who raised their hands (including H) got to come home, shower for the first time in 7 days, and go to our wedding in dress blues and return to training the next day. It was pretty funny b/c the bachelors who normally would blow off a wedding, all came (just so they could come home, get cleaned up and eat good food). They bolted soon after the ceremony but at least the Colonel saw them there. Our honeymoon also was postponed for a couple of weeks. Keep in mind, we had checked the training schedule before printing the invitations.

My husband and I legally got married in september of 2002 in germany. Due to the Events of 9/11 he was constantly deployed from that moment on. when we finally got some time together we got married one weekend and back to work on monday, alas we did not get to have our big family wedding and our honeymoon until last year. I was so paranoid that he was going to be deployed again due to his flight chief telling him " he hope his c bag was ready". Half of his and My Sq came, I was so glad saved my money, but the funny part was i had made the invitations to our wedding back in 02 so i had to scratch out the original date and put the new one in. the one good thing was that we had our real wedding in September of 2006.
I just hate to see when you plan things somehow military life can just be a rainy cloud to your sunny day

[LPIDelta]

This is why I LOVE being 15 years in--because there is light at the end of the tunnel and I can actually start to "plan" for what we will do when he's done. Sure things could change--every time I turn around he's got some new idea about going to work for some three letter agency--but I love that we're close enough to retirement that we can actually start to think about "what's next" with some reality.

SthrnZeta--it really does sound like you've got everything covered. And I still wouldn't be surprised if there was a holiday proposal, despite his reaction to people thinking you're engaged. That might just be because he doesn't want other people to "spoil" the plan.

We got married and he left the next day for a 6 month deployment. Quickie and unusual wedding situations are part of the special fabric of being a military spouse.