May 2013
7 posts
4 tags
Married to the Marines →
A military spouse reflects on the pros and cons of being married to a marine as he retires from the Corps after 20 years of service.
Molly Blake writes:
And I’ve learned a lot over the years. I’ve learned that when President Bush announced a troop plus up, and seconds later the phone rings, it’s not good news. I’ve learned what it takes to earn an Air Medal and how that tiny ribbon can so...
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2,700 →
This part of the post struck me:
He asked his brother, a former Army officer, for insight as to why more than 80 percent of those who committed suicide had never been in combat. The response:
Because regardless of what they’re called or what “stage” we’re in, we’re still at war. Being in a war zone for 9+ months is unbelievably stressful even if you’re not in combat. Not to mention, you work...
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Update
Where have I been tumblr?
Hiding, being avoidant. Husband came back from deployment about a month ago and I was wrapped up in that (yay us!). Now I’m trying to wrap up my final weeks of grad school, which means finally moving in with husband after many years of long distance (like a decade), for the first time fully living in a military community, transitioning from a track record of living...
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p.s. returning to DC in a little under 2 weeks!
I’d rather be there than here doing schoolwork right now… -__-
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Explain to me why I feel so much anxiety right now. Tired, exhausted, and yet still up for god knows how late. Argh. Husband on the East Coast is going to wake up soon and I’m still awake?! What is this madness?
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be...”
– bell hooks (via onlinecounsellingcollege)
April 2013
1 post
1 tag
March 2013
20 posts
5 tags
Marriage Equality: DOMA, Military Style →
Karen Santiano Francis gets it:
As an ID Card holder, a spouse gets on post or base, goes to the commissary or the post library; joins the club and uses the pool. Those are the surface rights. The right to be at the hospital when your spouse is in ICU after the birth of the first child for both of you; the right to be able to show your emotion in the NICU as your son fights hard. The right...
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In Pursuit of Life: Anyone have thoughts on how to... →
sneezingrainbows:
inpolife:
Anyone have thoughts on how to engage the milspouse community in activism (of the progressive, feminist, equal rights variety)?
I’m moving to a new community (from civilian to military, as I move in with my Marine husband) so my core community of friends who are mainly activists will no longer be…
Interesting post. I’ll share a couple thoughts I have, though I’m...
pickledtoast:
inpolife:
Anyone have thoughts on how to engage the milspouse community in activism (of the progressive, feminist, equal rights variety)?
I’m moving to a new community (from civilian to military, as I move in with my Marine husband) so my core community of friends who are mainly activists will no longer be a coffee date away. What should I do? How do I foster or find this...
6 tags
Anyone have thoughts on how to engage the milspouse community in activism (of the progressive, feminist, equal rights variety)?
I’m moving to a new community (from civilian to military, as I move in with my Marine husband) so my core community of friends who are mainly activists will no longer be a coffee date away. What should I do? How do I foster or find this community when I know that...
6 tags
DYING VET’S ‘FUCK YOU’ LETTER TO GEORGE BUSH &... →
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Hundreds of dollars gone b/c of changes to homecoming dates and needing to cancel/change all my flights to an still-unknown date. Thus is the life of a long distance military marriage.
Bah! humbug.
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The Most Expensive Fighter Jet Ever Built, by the... →
And how is this not on the table for defense cuts from the sequester…?
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So this post went across my milspouse feed in response to this ridiculous HuffPo article by David Wood (originally titled “After Decade Of Lavish Benefits, Military Personnel Fear Cuts”; now titled “Defense Budget Faces Cuts To Personnel After Decade Of War”):
So, a very ignorant man wrote a very ignorant article about how lavish the benefits of our military are. I...
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3 Dead in Whidbey Island EA-6B Jet Crash →
schoolmeetlife:
This hits a little too close to home… this was Husband’s training squadron when he was out there. Praying for the families and the community.
Hold your loved ones close, everyone.
Rest in peace.
A reminder that even when your loved one isn’t deployed, threats of death may still feel imminent.
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Hope kills but love perseveres. →
This is strength and grace.
I can imagine being in this position one day, and it scares the shit out of me. But sometimes that’s life.
I wish her and her husband continued fortitude, love, and support through all of this as they continue to tackle whatever life brings them.
Go read her post and show them some love.
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Nervously waiting to hear whether or not the sequester impacts Husband’s homecoming from many months of deployment.
(close to edge of tears)
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Sign the petition to urge Congress to pass HR 900:... →
schoolmeetlife:
Hate the Sequester? Don’t know what to do to fight it? Here’s something super easy and fast to do; takes 10 seconds - just click the link and sign the petition to urge Congress to pass HR 900: The Cancel the Sequester Act of 2013. And some extra info from The Hill:
“If Congress can’t or won’t come together to craft bipartisan agreement, I believe we have a duty to avert these...
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Fact check on how sequestration affects military... →
This great rundown tells you what rumors are true or false regarding military pay, deployment, health care access, schools, commissaries, and more. Read it.
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Letters From A Military Wife →
Beautiful writing by Jenn Pineo:
Odds are, I could pass you on the street and you would never even notice me. And yet in your eyes, I’m nothing more than three simple words…..”just a wife”.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am just a wife. […] I do grocery shop but I may do it in silence because I haven’t lived here long enough to run into people I know. If I do see a friend in the cereal...
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Women: In Front and Behind Enemy Lines →
Maybe more equitable representation translates to more equitable burden? Maybe?
At my most optimistic, I want to believe that equality – even if it’s mostly symbolic – might breed a lessening of sexual violence. Then we can get back to the task at hand: more war.
(Sidenote: stop calling all servicemembers “soldiers” bladsflajsdfasdfj! And it’s not just enlisted folks who get...
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Today I hate our government more than usual.
Congress, I’m glad you’re not doing your fucking job but yet you still get to keep your job and still get paid. Instead, the consequences of YOU FAILING at your responsibilities are that OTHER PEOPLE lose their jobs and their security. Great, wonderful. Fuck you.
February 2013
14 posts
2 tags
Distracted studying + Pandora find = song for the...
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Sometimes I want my anonymous milspouse-tumblr-self to combine with my less anonymous real-life-tumblr-self because it’d make things a bit easier, but I know I’m bound to piss off some other milfolks if they knew my (military) politics. And my real-life tumblr stalkers would surely get tired of all the military postings.
Oh well. #randommediocrerant
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Time to Be Angry with Congress About All Things... →
Karen Santiano Francis writes:
While Congress is off on yet another vacation –- a vacation from posturing, speechifying all sorts of twaddle, grandstanding and making sure their Easter Egg tie is brighter than the next guy, I have to ask what is going on in our military community? We are careening head long into sequestration, civilian workers for the Department of Defense are facing furloughs...
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NYTimes: Warrior Voices →
Read these. From reintegration to combat experience, from mental health to family life… stories from veterans.
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Special Tax Breaks for Military Members →
If you can’t tell, money (and taxes) is on my mind (gah!) so I’m just collecting all these interwebs tips.
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How to Invest in Your Future While on Deployment →
Because making more money is always a good thing when you’re on a military-pay budget.
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microaggressions:
I live in a state that has a constitutional prohibition against same sex marriage and see homophobia on a day to day basis. Most of the time, I let it roll off me but there are times when it gets to me like today when I am preparing my taxes and am again reminded that despite almost 18 years together, both the federal and state government still view me as, and force me to check...
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Listen to this story: In Loving Memory of a Wife,... →
From StoryCorps:
North Carolina National Guardsman Tracy Johnson is an Iraq War veteran and an Army widow.
She is also one of the first gay spouses to lose a partner at war since the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
On Feb. 14, 2012, Tracy married her longtime partner, Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson. But eight months later, Donna was killed by a suicide bomber while serving...
January 2013
2 posts
1 tag
Things I hate more than deployment
1) the deployment moustache
2) hearing the next door neighbors having sex (b/c I haven’t gotten any in MONTHS!)
::whine whine whine:: ok, I’m putting down my violin now.
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The Atlantic: Why Our Best Officers are Leaving →
December 2012
9 posts
4 tags
WatchRachel Maddow throwing it down about the despicably long wait times veterans endure to receive VA benefits.
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Propublica: How Did Scores of Military Units Lose... →
Read the Q&A. It’s horrifying that this happens.
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An Open Letter to the President of the Association... →
The conservative nature of the military disappoints again.
Regardless of your orientation, when your partner is in the military, you endure the same things as other spouses/significant others. Ashley Broadway was denied membership into Ft. Bragg’s Officers’ Spouses Club, and she responded with this open letter. Excerpt below:
I respectfully ask that you reconsider my request to join...
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