Hello......

Hope everyone can find us!!!

My hubby's in the Navy (ex-navy myself). I guess I'm the only one that isn't so happy with military life. I'm not sorry we did it (shoot we met in the military....so I wouldn't even know him without it). I guess I'm just ready to be out now.

He's been gone for so much of our marriage. He spent the 2 years in school. And then we moved to Virginia. Until this duty station (8 months ago), he was only in port 82 days of each year (5 years). Out of that 82 days, a third of that were on 24 hour duty (so he was gone). So I basically saw my husband for about two months a year.

This is the first year we've had a single holiday together. It just always turned out that he was either gone or on duty when holidays came....birthdays, christmas, anniversaries. He was out to sea every one of my son's birthdays until his 5th birthday this year. My children actually asked me if I would please tell their daddy it was ok to visit us. When they were asked where their daddy was, they would answer "at his home on the boat". Until we moved here, they thought all daddies didn't live with their families. I tried so hard to explain it to them....but they learn from what they see. It was really hard.

I guess I have a lot of anger towards the military. When I was in they were very cruel to me when I was pretty sick. I ended my career to stop the harrassment. My husband paid for what happened to me for many years, because a congressman was involved. When my youngest was hospitalized the first time, they gave my husband permission to come take care of our kids. Then after a few hours, called him up and threatened to write him up UA and mast him for not being at work. It took three doctors arguing on the phone with his command to get him off. Our son was going in for surgery at the time. There are many more instances, but I'll spare you. I'm not trying to be a complainer.....just trying to explain why I'm not gung ho Navy.

I'm a military brat, and 4 of my 5 siblings were also in the military. I support our troops and think the military has been wonderful for many. I guess I'm just one the ones who hasn't had a great experience.

Anyway, hope I haven't chased you all off...... I know we are very blessed to have him when we do and there are many others who have their spouses gone too. I think mostly it was his commands actions in the past that have made our time in the Navy unpleasant. His command is much more family oriented here. I'm glad to met all of you and I'm happy to help support you when you need it!!!! Thanks for listening to my gripes.