Sparkle Schoolhouse

Sparkle Weekly Wonderings: Veteran's Day - Military Families

For the last few weeks I’ve been talking to military spouses about life as an Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine family. I’ve learned a great deal in the process. I have had many friends who grew up in military families, but I now have even more appreciation and respect for this community.

Here are a few things I have learned while writing “All Hands,” a story about military families:

• They move — a lot. The average time spent in one place is less than two and a half years. That means military families will likely move four times in every decade.
• In military families, the parent who is working for the military can be deployed on tours lasting anywhere from six months to three years — which means a mother or father who is mostly gone during that time and has only brief periods at home.
• Military families work very hard to find normalcy in very challenging circumstances. Between the irregular stretches when the military parent is either home or away, the emotional demands that come with military service, and the reality that their livelihood is directly dependant on decisions made by Washington DC leadership, the challenges that face military families are indeed unique. And yet the spouses I spoke with were quick to talk about the deep bonds in their community and the support they receive from other military families.

I, for one, now have a far deeper respect and gratitude for soldiers, their spouses, and their families. They are dedicated both to serving the country and to helping the next generation become the most empathetic, kind, and self-confident citizens they can be.