Dorian sat down next to me st the bar at Hopdoddy’s in Round Rock and ordered a frito burger. Jonny leaned in to confess that that burger wasn’t on the menu anymore but she’d make it for him anyway. That made me smile. Veterans Day is really an opportunity to see how your local businesses appreciate the service of America’s true 1%— the military.
MILITARY LIFE
Military life demands flexibility, patience, and resourcefulness. It challenges you, often in unfamiliar languages, and touches every aspect of your life. This lifestyle tests friendships, requires frequent moving, and influences home decor choices. It also impacts job hunting, career paths, and marriage. As you navigate all things military, these experiences shape your resilience and adaptability.
Baumholder has been my favorite duty station in the 23 years we have traveled with the military. Forty minutes from the French border, the Weinstrasse (wine road). It was less than 90 minutes from Frankfurt, central to a lot of cute towns like Idar Oberstein and less than an hour from Frankfurt Hahn, an international airport and Ryan Air. And Baumholder was in the middle of it all.
She said, marriage is not easy and that many people aren’t willing to put in the effort it takes to make it work, and that EVENTUALLY, it wouldn’t just be about me and him. It would be about OUR kids, OUR finances, OUR jobs, OUR extended families, OUR expectations and OUR future. And that we needed to make sure that the “OURS” aligned. She said I needed to be sure that this guy was THE GUY.
Why You Should Fly SpaceA SpaceA travel gets you where you want to go for free or next to nothing. You can surf online for the best fares. Check out the local travel agencies. Or you can head over to …
Military life is colorful, but military housing is not! Your rental or on-post housing will most likely pair beige carpeting with white walls. A combination creating a 360° panorama of ho-hum. The typical military PCS every 2-3 years. Home decorating …
It wasn’t long ago that many companies didn’t offer employment opportunities that were substantive to military spouse due to our transient nature. Fortunately, the tide is turning and companies are recognizing that military spouses offer a diversity, born out of that transience, that far exceeds the gaps in employment and multiple fields and skill sets they employ.
I haven’t worked full-time outside the home in a few years. But I want a job. I have things I’d like to do that require funds and the whole “dependent” blanket I’ve been wearing up to my eyeballs is wearing a little thin these days. I want—scratch that, I need a job. But it’s not for lack of trying that I don’t have one. I have applied to quite a few of them until recently. I have been a victim—a victim of my own short-sidedness.
Every PCS is different. It’s way too easy to focus on all the stress, uncertainty, career and relationship challenges we have to overcome to live a life that’s positive and full of gratitude. Growth occurs when we make the effort to see the obstacles for what they really are– life lessons and opportunities to live in real time and not the past or the present.
I love a good mystery. Don’t you? Here we are, a little over two months from our deros (departure) date from South Korea and we are still waiting on orders. We have no idea where we are going next. You would think after more than 20 years, I’d be used to the hurry up and wait mentality of the military.
When you PCS to South Korea, you will have some struggles. And because a very good friend of mine is en route and these are some of the things we talked about. In short, you won’t find a lot of …
This is one time when the hype is well-deserved. I highly recommend the New Sanno Hotel & Resort. It is available to active duty and retired U.S. military personnel eligible to use other Armed Forces Recreation Centers, as well as DoD civilian employees duty stationing in Japan, contractors on DoD orders to execute contracts for the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in Japan.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved our little apartment in Baumholder, but that town was well-known for its contrary weather. We fondly and not so fondly referred to it as the rock. We lived in an old stone mansion that had been renovated into four large apartments. We shared the second floor with a retired German officer. The first floor was split between a US Major and his wife. Across the hall was a 90+ year old German widow.
I once referred to myself as an expat. But during a recent dinner party at my home, we welcomed “real” American Expats to a long promised and much appreciated home cooked meal.