About military life … not the blog. You are not going to get rid of me so easily 😉
After 22 years, the pilot is officially retired from the army! You can see the complete summary of the Flight and Fini celebration here.
They have spent almost three weeks, and I have many emotions. I still feel that he is licensed right now, and I really can’t believe he’s actually over. It was such a dynamic lifestyle, full of the highest maximums (there is nothing like that feeling of honeymoon when they return!) And some minimum low.
It is wild (and I am very grateful to all of you) that so many have been here almost all our military life! When we first moved to Valdosta and started the blog, we were freshly married and I was new in all this lifestyle.
Creatures !!
Our military life was compatible with pure joy, such as deployment returns and the fun events of the squad, but also sadness, fear and concern.
– The incredible feeling when he hugged me for the first time after each deployment.
– When he had gone for a long time and then felt a bit like a stranger.
– The fun events of the squad and the nights at the end of the night drink wine and chat with the ladies.
– Talking to him on the phone while they deployed it, but listening to the rocket attack alerts in the background. (It was the voice of a woman with a British accent that said: “rocket attack. Rocket attack”).
– Pack and send careful deployment packages, so excited to check the mail and appreciate letters and handwritten cards.
– Upon learning that his plane had been bathed with bullets during a particular flight abroad.
When I met the pilot, I asked him how often he had to disappear and if he has ever deployed. He told me that he would probably have not gone at all, and that he would probably not have to deploy. (All my friends from my military wife can laugh here). He was parked in North Carolina six months later, and was first deployed within a year. He ended up deploying four times.
Military life is constantly flexible for unknowns and inherently rigid lifestyle. One of the most difficult lessons for me was that the army was always the first, regardless of what was happening.
There are many things that I cannot avoid clinging, but something that will take me in my mind was when I underwent hand surgery (so a hand was in a splint), a preschool and a newborn baby with severe Reflux, and it was TDY for more than a week.
Many times, I felt that the end would never be here, and I joked that I would drag me into the finish line, a worn bag. The worn bag did it!
Sometimes we hear: “You know what you were getting in” when a military wife talks about her struggles. For this reason, we often feel ashamed of talking about difficult parts. It is expected to maintain a smile on your face, grant yourself in all the benefits of military life and accompany you. While I am a great believer in being positive as much as possible, it is also good to look around and say: “This is incredibly difficult.”
I put a smile (mostly hahaha), I supported the love of my life, organized and attended the parties, I went to the important events, I kept the fort during the deployments, long hours and tdys, and I put my heart and soul for make the most of the good of children. I was honest when I had a difficult day here and there, but I didn’t want them to know the magnitude of how exhausted I felt. He was commander for three years and did an incredible job, but it was difficult for our marriage and family.
You can love your husband fiercely, you can be proud of him, you can love and support our military … and not * love * Everything about being a military wife. You can do the best of things, although not necessarily * enjoying * in all aspects. If you feel that you are struggling to do it and, sometimes, just playing the paper, it is good to feel like that. I just wanted to send my love to his fellow military wives who kept him pressured. If you feel that you will never reach the finish line, you will. You are incredibly strong, wait there.
Many things can be true at the same time: you can look back with sadness, love, tiredness, joy and gratitude, at the same time.
A small note for the A-10, also known as the pilot’s girlfriend:
– Thank you for the ability to help support our country
– Thanks for the fun memories
– Thanks for the opportunity to make so many meals for babies – one of my favorite things about all this experience
– Thanks for the incredible health insurance. Some people have mixed experiences, but I have nothing more than wonderful things to say about tricare
– Thanks for the military friends who became a family
– Thank you thank you for bringing it home safely to us
She did a great job taking care of him and always brought him home with us. More than 3,400 hours in the cabin of this beauty, and although I will not necessarily miss the lifestyle, I will miss the joy that the pilot received when the A-10 flys, his camaraderie with the brothers and be there to encourage their achievements. I am so proud of everything he has done in the last 19 years that I know him (just under 22 in total in the Air Force).
I am definitely looking forward to the pilot enjoying a long and very necessary vacation, and then returns to the world of commercial airlines.
Thank you for being there for us during the turns and turns of this crazy military life. While we turn the page, I’m anxious for chapter 2. 🙂
Xoxo
Gina
