True Life: I’m a Military Wife

Today, I’m joining Mal and Samantha for their Real Military Wives of Blogland link up! I don’t think it’s a secret that my husband is in the military, but I don’t think I’ve ever really blogged about his military career or our experiences as a military family.

My name is Alex (Alejandra), I’m 26 and from the bizarre state of Florida. I stay at home with two kiddos and another on the way. Currently, we’re living in Hawaii, where we’ve been for five and a half months.

I met John in college while studying to get a Bachelor Degree in Marketing. At that point he had already been in the Army for five or years as an enlisted Soldier and was doing the Green to Gold program to finish his degree and earn a commission. Due to him being in the military and having to leave for training after graduation, we got married after knowing each other for seven months. I’ll be sharing that story for our anniversary next week.

Pinning Hubs. Just after I dropped the bar on the floor and I made the Colonel pick it up. Oops.

After getting married, I still had a semester left of school, so I stayed living with my parents and working at the mall as a visual merchandiser. John headed to Fort Benning and Fort Leonard Wood for BOLC, and luckily I was able to fly up pretty frequently. Four and a half years after starting college, I finally got my degree and joined John in Savannah, while he was stationed at Fort Stewart.

In the five years that we’ve been married, our family has had the opportunity to live in Georgia (Fort Stewart) as well as in Missouri (Fort Leonard Wood). So far, I have to say that Fort Stewart was my favorite. While at Stewart, I got relatively involved with the unit as an FRG leader for three years. Although I hated it a lot of the time, I miss it now, and am looking forward to having the opportunity to be involved with another Family Readiness Group.

Along our Army journey, there have been a variety of peaks and valleys. John deployed to Afghanistan for a year just after Adri was born, which really sucked. For the most part though, everything else has been wonderful. We’ve made lifelong friends and have been able to travel the country on the government’s dime. I went from the ROTC girlfriend with no idea what a “sarnt” (eye roll) was to a semi-experienced military wife. I have to admit that I still tune some stories out because I have no clue WTF John is talking about.

I’ve met quite a few interesting characters, but for the most part, I can say that most military spouses are pretty normal people. Of course there are the ones who wear their Soldier’s rank or demand military discounts (the stereotypes aren’t completely made up), but in general, we’re mostly nice people. Mostly. It seems to be a growing experience for most of us, and unfortunately, sometimes that’s harder for some people than it is for others.