Meet Columnist Bree Carroll
Growing up doesn’t come with a briefing packet.
Do you ever find yourself wondering what you’re going to be when you grow up?
As if someone signed your permission slip to be an adult without fully preparing you. No debrief. No pep talk. No “Here’s what PCS season will really feel like.” Just… here you are. Managing a household, navigating military life, raising kids (or pets), building a marriage, and quietly thinking:
Why didn’t anyone tell me this?
This shouldn’t be this hard.
If that’s you, you’re in good company.
I have those same thoughts in between sips of tea while loading the dishwasher.
Hi friends — I’m Bree Carroll. And I’m so excited to share a little bit of your day here at Military Spouse Magazine.
Like many of you, I’m a military spouse who doesn’t fit the stereotype — and I love that. Figuring life out has become my full-time sport. I’m learning to be okay with failure, because that’s often where I learn the most about myself, my marriage, and my purpose.
We are an Air Force family of five, and along this journey I’ve worked as a GS civil engineer while growing what started as a hobby into a successful events business. As a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, my passion for thriving and fulfilling marriages led to advocacy work that earned me recognition as AFI Air Force Spouse of the Year in 2020 and 2021.
That season opened doors I never expected — including helping launch a national holiday, Military Marriage Day, celebrated annually on August 14th.
But here’s what may surprise you:
I took a year off.
Through active faith, intentional rest, and leaning deeply into my support community, I stepped back. And in that pause, I learned something powerful:
You don’t have to stick to the script.
You’re allowed to change it.
Designing a Life You Love (Without Escaping Reality)
This column is about designing a life you love — without running from the hard realities of aging, grief, transition, and growth.
Because what’s real is this:
Our day-to-day military spouse life is filled with opportunities to be grateful.
What’s also real?
It hurts to start over as the new face in a new town when you loved the friends and home you built somewhere else.
It’s exhausting to receive the unexpected doctor’s report.
It’s heavy to answer the late-night phone call about loss.
It’s frustrating when one-size-fits-all advice doesn’t fit at all.
And if we’re being honest?
Sometimes the generic solutions offered to complex military spouse realities are just… gag worthy.
We deserve better than surface-level encouragement.
We deserve depth. We deserve community. We deserve celebration alongside honesty.
Expect Joy — and the Tension That Comes With It
If you know me, you know I love to celebrate.
You can expect occasional tips for creating meaningful moments. Shout-outs to military spouses who deserve their flowers. Practical ideas for cultivating connection in marriage and family life.
But we won’t ignore the tension.
We’ll talk about transition.
We’ll talk about starting over.
We’ll talk about the growth that comes from seasons we didn’t choose.
Because what’s real is that we need one another more than we may want to admit — and more than we’ll ever fully understand.
So thank you for reading along.
Stay tuned for more of what’s real.
— Bree
