2) A sense of community that understands YOU. The Fresh Prince was on to something. But its civilians… they just don’t understand.
And that can make living among them challenging, especially if you are far away from family and friends or if your spouse is never there. It can be hard to see the neighbors whose kids have gone to the same school K – 12, or the family that always has grandparents in attendance for every backyard barbecue. You may find yourself fielding lots of crazy questions (5 Questions that Make the Military Spouse Cringe), and trying to explain your way of life to people who might have good intentions, but just can’t get it.
On the other hand, when you live on base… all the children have been the new kid on the block at least once before. You neighbor will not think twice when you knock on her door at 2 am to kindly ask you to help capture the enormous spider/rodent/or unknown critter the dog proudly placed on your bed three days into deployment. When your neighbor sees that your recycling is still full at 3 pm and on your curb, he brings it up to the side of your house for you and kindly knocks to remind you that it is actually supposed to go out on Friday.
Your spouse is surrounded with people who actually know what they are talking about when they speak in acronyms and can understand some of the frustrations that go along with the job. There is a kind of camaraderie that can be hard to duplicate with civilian neighbors and friends.
No one understands what it is like to be a military member… better than a military member. Or what it is like to be a military spouse, military kid… military family.
You get the picture.
