Written by Carmen Grant

Oh dreaded PCS moves, how all wives loathe you. Just the computer application on move.mil, changed from SmartWeb, is enough to make you want to throw your computer through the window...especially if you have a Mac. Alas with a little planning and resource abuse, you can make PCS moves a less pain-in-the-yah experience.





One of my favorite books for deployments is a book made by the Channing Bete Company called Write from the Heart. The book is an amazing deployment correspondence book where kids write about their days, tear out the page, fold it in thirds, write the mailing and return address, slap on a stamp and mail it to dad. It is so simple yet so genius at the same time.

November is National Military Appreciation month. Nobody works harder at protecting American freedom than our brave men and women who deploy to combat zones, those who stay behind to guard the fort, and the brave spouses that stay behind guarding the the home. Families are supported by Readiness Programs that prepare them for deployments. The Army runs one of the strongest and most structured Family Readiness Programs out of all the services and the spouses are strong and resilient because of the success of the Programs. But nothing could have prepared the families of those who lost their lives under the fire of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan at Ft. Hood on November 5th, 2009.
Whether you are a seasoned military wife with ten deployments down, or if this is your first one ever, it is necessary to get as much information as to what is normal, and what isn't. Deployments are a part of our lives as military wives and something we all need to get used to.
The military life is not easy for the servicemember or the family. Spouses are labeled as dependents (for God knows what reason since military spouses are dependent on nobody but themselves) have to be single parents for months at a time. They have to be independent, patient, and accept the fact that they are not the single most important thing in their spouses life. There are two important things in any married servicemembers life and those things are country and family. Neither is more important. They serve for their family, and the family has to work with or without them around.


