My name is Christina and I have been a Military spouse for 6 years now – for 3 of which I have been a family readiness officer assistant.
When I first married my husband I really didn’t know what I was getting into, all I knew was I loved my husband with all my heart, a lot of new spouses will say that a lot, but, what does it mean? You hear a lot of spouses say it’s a very hard life and it’s quite lonely, well to the spouses reading this don’t, automatically think that’s the way you have to live.
When I was a new spouse I didn’t live up to that. I didn’t understand a lot or why he has to train so much, or why he had to do things – but I asked a lot of questions, my husband can contest to that. “If you don’t know, ask” is my motto. I talked his ear off.
I got in contact with my Family Readiness Officer (FRO) when he didn’t want to answer some questions. She put me in contact with LINKS, where I learned so much about military life. After that I became a FRO Assistant where I learned that the command isn’t as scary as it seems. I became friends with many other spouses, got involved with events, met more people and even made more friends.
This life can be lonely, but what I’m getting at is it that doesn’t have to be – get involved with the unit and meet new people. It’s best thing I ever did. Learn about the Military and what your husband does. Ask questions, it’s also your life too.
After doing this I then got a job. I felt fulfilled but it wasn’t my ideal career. It was something to do and passed the time when he would be on long field ops “training”. Every now and then I would get lonely, but at this point I had friends who understood what I was going through. Your family won’t always understand but you can help them understand by sharing the knowledge with them. Also it’s good to have friends that understand, don’t forget to make time for each other when your spouse is home – get out and do things.
This life can be hard and not always easy, but with that being said, you can also make it more enjoyable if you embrace it
Sandboxx is a mobile app that enables comms to exist throughout the military journey. Sandboxx enables those in uniform and their families stay connected like never before possible. Sandboxx Letters continues the mission by giving loved ones the ability to send physical mail to those in basic training, boot camp or on deployment. Learn more about how Sandboxx is revolutionising the way our military community thrives at www.sandboxx.us and download the app here, www.sandboxx.us/app.
