Sacrifices Made By The Military Personnel and the Families

A Joke That Was Offensive

A innocent comment that was taken wrong

A lot has happened over the last few weeks. I was put into question at my Civil Air Patrol squadron. What happened was we lost a C/1st Lt he had committed suicide and my commander decided to have an open conversation with our cadets about it. We seniors all spoke to them to reassure them that they had someone to talk with no matter the time of day.

Because it was such a sober meeting the commander and I was trying to lighten the mood up a little bit and get the cadets to laugh. I made a old joke about the Army and I don't want to offend anyone with this but the Marines told me this a long time ago. What Army stands for is (Ain't Ready To Be A Marine Yet). I was at the VA hospital when this was told to me and we had all branches of the service at the time and we all had a good laugh including the Army veterans.

Deputy Commander Offended

Anyway the deputy commander took offense to that. He said that he has to listen to other military members but he never heard of a military wife speak like that. I told him that I was joking around to lighten up the mood. I apologize three time to him, but I just don't know about him.

I am not going to let him get the best of me because he is not worth the time of day. He wants the squadron to run one way and it doesn't work that way. The commander and I have work together a long time so we know how the squadron works.

Laughter The Survival Mechanism

Anyway I told him that as military families mostly the wives, when we get together we joke and kid around because it is better than crying all the time and constantly worrying if our husbands are coming home. We do the same thing as EMTs, Paramedics, nurses, and doctors.

In World War II wives went to work in the factories just to keep going while their husbands were fighting the war. We held things together, taking care of the house, kids, working, paying the bills, we did everything but no one know what other sacrifices we have made.

It is not only hard on the military personnel but it is harder on the families because they don't know if they will ever see their husbands, fathers, brothers, or sons ever again. Many wives got notices from the Department of Defense with news that their husbands were either Missing In Action or Killed In Actions or Prisoner of War. We knew nothing of what was really happening.

Many wives cried themselves to sleep and you can only cry so much before you are all cried out to where you just can't cry anymore. Doctors have always said laughter is the best medicine and it is. We joke around we kid around just so we don't have to think about what is happening around us.

Being a Civilian in the Military World

I have been a military wife for over thirty plus years close to forty years. Yes it is very hard. I had a friend on the base her husband was always flying because he was a loadmaster. He flew with cargo aboard the plane.

The other thing is when you are in the military you are no longer a civilian because you are with military in general. Living on the base, shopping at the base exchange, shopping at the commissary. So we don't really have to go anywhere else. But we do shop other places too. Not only at the base.

When you have spent the better part of your life with the military that is basically all you know. When your spouse is retiring from the military they are transitioning into civilian life once again and it is hard to do that. Because you have been told what to do the better part of your life. And to finally leave you don't know what to do with yourself then.

That is the same with the wives and families. The kids go to the schools on base until the reach high school age then they go off base for that. So it is not too hard on the kids from that aspect but they are leaving their friends once again. That is why military kids really don't make friends because they don't know how long their father will be stationed at that based.

When we go to civilian life, the civilians treat us like we are still in the military and the military treat us like the civilian. We are on the fence not knowing where we fit into. No one knows what we go through and no one understands either. So we don't know what to do. Because we aren't really military anymore and we are civilians but we don't fit into the civilian world anymore.

Some Veterans Can't Survive In The Civilian World

That is why you will see a lot of veterans on the streets because they don't know where they belong and when they are tired they will commit suicide just to stop the pain that they are in. And what are the families to do after that. In essence the wives and families are still sacrificing.

Our government doesn't care about the military or the families. And one more thing if you don't already know this the military is great liars because that is all they do and the military got real good at it. Don't believe that our military die in training accidents because they don't. The higher up just say that so their is no questions about the death of military personnel.

Always remember laughter is a survival mechanism. Because you can only cry for so long. And this is how we deal with what is happening. This is the only thing that helps us besides our faith. But if we can't laugh or tell joke or act a fool now and again we have nothing then.

A veteran does have a lot to live for but they don't see it because they have sacrifice so much to do what they do that is all they know. And that is to also include their families as well. I hope and pray that everyone has a better understanding of what we sacrifice for our country. There is so much more to it than what meets the eye.

Consider The Sacrifice Of The Veterans

Please I want you to consider and think about the sacrifices that the veteran and his family has made to keep this country free with demoncratic. When you see a veteran please say thank you to them. If they are Living on the streets buy them a sandwich and a hot coffee. They deserve it, that is the least we can do for them for all they have done for us. They didn't complain or grumble they did it because they believed in our freedom and democracy, and the veterans still believe in those two things today.

I want to thank you all for reading the post I appreciate that. It is our turn to take care of the veterans. They took care of us we need to pull together and we as a whole need to sacrifice for the veterans now.