Patriotism
Enough Said
"It
is better to have lived
one day as a lion
than one thousand
days as a sheep."
Inscription on the stone of
Lieutenant Colonel Charles G. Clinger
Oklahoma City National Memorial
Freedom
of Information Act Phony
Veterans Gulf War
Vets
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Subject: MILITARY SPOUSES
By Colonel Steven Arrington
17th Training Wing vice commander
Goodfellow AFB
San Angelo, Texas
taken from the Goodfellow Monitor
Military Spouses
The Difference
Over the years, I've talked a lot about military spouses...how special they are
and the price they pay for freedom too.
The funny thing about it, is most military spouses don't consider themselves
different from other spouses.
They do what they have to do, bound together not by blood or merely friendship,
but with a shared spirit whose origin is in
the very essence of what love truly is. Is there truly a difference? I think
there is. You have to decide for yourself.
Other spouses get married and look forward to building equity in a home and
putting down family roots. Military spouses get married and know they'll live in
base housing or rent, and their roots must be short so they can be transplanted
frequently.
Other spouses decorate a home with flair and personality that will last a
lifetime. Military spouses decorate a home with flare tempered with the
knowledge that no two base houses have the same size windows or same size rooms.
Curtains have to be
flexible and multiple sets are a plus. Furniture must fit like puzzle pieces.
Other spouses have living rooms that are immaculate and seldom used. Military
spouses have immaculate living room/dining room combos. The coffee table got a
scratch or two moving from Germany, but it still looks pretty good.
Other spouses say good-bye to their spouse for a business trip and know they
won't see them for a week. They are lonely, but can survive. Military spouses
say good-bye to their deploying spouse and know they won't see them for months,
or
for a remote, a year. They are lonely, but will survive.
Other spouses, when a washer hose blows off, call Maytag and then write a check
out for getting the hose reconnected. Military spouses will cut the water off
and fix it themselves.
Other spouses get used to saying "hello" to friends they see all the
time. Military spouses get used to saying "good-bye" to friends made
the last two years.
Other spouses worry about whether their child will be class president next year.
Military spouses worry about whether their child will be accepted in yet another
new school next year and whether that school will be the worst in the city
...again.
Other spouses can count on spouse participation in special events...birthdays,
anniversaries, concerts, football games, graduation, and even the birth of a
child. Military spouses only count on each other; because they realize that the
Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. It has to be that way.
Other spouses put up yellow ribbons when the troops are imperiled across the
globe and take them down when the troops come home. Military spouses wear yellow
ribbons around their hearts and they never go away.
Other spouses worry about being late for mom's Thanksgiving dinner. Military
spouses worry about getting back from Japan in time for dad's funeral.
And other spouses are touched by the television program showing an elderly lady
putting a card down in front of a long, black wall that has names on it.
The card simply says
"Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.
You would have been sixty today."
A military spouse is the lady with the card.
And the wall is the Vietnam Memorial.
I would never say military spouses are better or worse than other spouses are.
But I will say there is a difference. And I will say that our country asks more
of military spouses than is asked of other spouses. And I will say, without
hesitation, that military spouses pay just as high a price for freedom as do
their active duty husbands or wives. Perhaps the price they pay is even higher.
Dying in service to our country isn't near as hard as loving someone who has
died in service to our country, and having to live without them.
God bless our military spouses for all they freely give.
And God bless America.