Military Spouse Network
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While more than half of 1.4 million current active duty service members are married, researchers at Regis University found, these military spouses are rarely considered when documenting the costs of wartime service.
According to the research, “when the average, non-military American thinks about the United States’ conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he or she generally associates the stressors and casualties of the wars with the active-duty services members.”
Contrary to these findings, the spouses typically endure comparable amounts of stress, but their health care needs are often obscured by a primary concern for the soldier. Fortunately, reliance on self-care and spousal support can offer a viable means to cope.
The Internet has become an incredibly important tool for the military community to document and share their experiences. Personal blogs and social media have given everyone an opportunity to share their story. National Guard wife Ali Gibbs uses her blog, Better Together, as a springboard for her thoughts and feelings.
And that insight can amount to a lot of unique feelings that come with being married to the military. How do milspouses cope with love, loss and leaving?
Military families and spouses often have to move across state lines with little notice, and often end up living overseas. The service member in the family can be called to move bases at any given time.
The result is that moving frequently can take its toll on the family, and although its members might grow accustomed to the process, adjusting to life in a new city is always gradual at first.
So when a military family not only has to move, but move overseas, the adjusting period is amplified by multiple factors, such as unfamiliarity, language and culture. How, then, do military families adjust to living overseas?
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If you’re a military spouse, you might have to move by yourself.
Moving houses can be intimidating in the first place, but having to move by yourself can be downright frightening. If you’re a military spouse, that might be the reality at some point in your life when your spouse is deployed.
“I am an active duty military spouse with two children and six ‘on my own’ moves under my belt,” said Roxanne Reed, Executive Director of the Military Spouse Foundation and Marine Corps spouse. “I’ll be honest — moving stressed me out to no end in the beginning, but now I see it as a time to clean out, reorganize and start fresh.”
Although moving by yourself is an ominous prospect, there are several tips and precautions you can take that will make the process much smoother and easier.
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It’s not just your mother’s disease anymore. Women are being diagnosed with breast cancer at younger ages and higher rates than ever before, and military women are at a higher risk.
According to a 2009 study, military women are 20 to 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than other women in the same age groups. More than 2,000 cases of breast cancer have been diagnosed in active-duty service members in the past decade.
Experts disagree, however, over whether that’s due to increased incidents or increased screenings. See More
As Sarah takes you through her journey, I guarantee you will find some of yourself in the pages.
I get asked so often for a list of recommended books for Military Spouses that I thought I would create a Military Spouse Reading List, just for our readers! Every month I will feature a few books on our Reading list and review them for you. Hopefully you will wind up with a whole new list of books to read, from novels to practical resources.
The first book on my Military Spouse Reading List is the first book I read as a military spouse, and it still has remained my absolute favorite many books later. If you are a newer military spouse and you read just one book for military spouses, you must read Going Overboard: The Misadventures of a Military Wife by Sarah Smiley, the wife of a Navy servicemember. See More
If you and your spouse are retired, read on for different ways to keep busy during retirement.
As a member of the United States Armed Forces I often hear: “Thank you for your service.” But how often do we thank a military spouse?
To do our duty we must leave all that is home behind us.
Who thanks those who work behind the scenes to make the home life of military personnel less of a concern so military members can focus on the task at hand? Soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, Coast Guards — they are all people with personal lives and personal affairs. When we are overseas we have to leave everything behind. I can’t tell you how important it is that things at home are “squared away.” Soldiers worried about their children, their home, their bills or their parents will not be able to focus on the mission. This isn’t a job you can do half-heartedly or amid distraction. See More
Military spouse bonds can include anything from ice cream socials to late-night vent sessions.
A structured and supportive family readiness group (FRG) can make it easier for military spouses to cope with the challenges they face. Unfortunately, not all spouses have the good fortune. FRGs can be inactive, nonexistent or poorly organized.
Military Spouse Central‘s Adrienne May is the spouse of a National Guard service member and has had experience with an ineffective FRG. She managed to find a way to get information and support:
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U.S. Army Spc. Newton Carlicci travels dismounted while on his way back to his outpost from the village of Paspajak, Charkh District, Logar province, Afghanistan.
There are certain things that are impossible prepare for, losing a spouse being chief among them. As a military spouse I can talk about the possibility, discuss options and get finances in order ahead of time. I have thought about the very real possibility that my husband would be killed, captured, disabled or severely injured either physically or mentally. I have prayer and support networks, but I will just never be prepared for that reality.
When I first heard the news about Robert Bales, the soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians, I felt an intense mixture of horror, disgust, sadness, fear, grief, loss and confusion. I was angry at a soldier for killing Afghan civilians, including children. I was angry that someone would do this. I felt like screaming and crying and yelling. See More
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