If you’ve been around the military for even a short amount of time, you’ve probably at least heard a mention of “Murphy’s Law,” the theory that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
It actually has a pretty science-y history with some philosophy and math thrown in. But you don’t need to know all of that.
All you need to know is that once your service member leaves, I can almost guarantee you will get to know Murphy.
November is usually the time of year when people consider all that they have to be thankful for. We begin to express our gratitude for the important people in our lives and all the things that make our lives enjoyable. With all the ups and downs that come with military life, we sometimes need to take a step back to find the positive and this time of year is the perfect time to do it.
When taking a deeper look, there are plenty of things to be thankful for in this military journey that civilian life just can’t provide.
In this military life, separation in the military is almost guaranteed. Between TDY, training, time in the field, deployments—the list goes on and on—our service members often have to take time away from their spouses and families. Often, we focus on that separation; some of us dwell on it, some of us try to ignore it, but it can still get at us despite our best efforts.
When our service member leaves, we’re faced with two choices: allow our emotions to take over, or try to look at the bright side. It never gets easier to have our loved ones gone, but we can try to see the good in it.
It’s inevitable. At some point, the service member will deploy, embark on a temporary duty assignment, or leave to spend time in the field. It’s often difficult on our military kids, especially the younger ones who aren’t sure how to process the information. In addition, military children are often separated from extended family like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
When my husband and I moved to Germany during our last PCS, it was a serious transition for our children. We had lived within two hours of my side of the family, and I think we all got used to that nearness.
We moved halfway across the world and now the children didn’t get to physically see our extended family in person nearly as often. To make matters worse, my husband was set up with a rotational training unit and often left for the field for extended periods.
While there are a lot of great things about being a part of a military community, it also has its downsides. Frequent separations from those we love due to field time, TDY, or deployments; moving every two or three years to another state or another country; infrequent visits with family, maybe only once a year; changing schools, addresses, telephone numbers, licenses, cars.
Sometimes, it can feel like military life has a lot of darkness.
But when you see the light, something amazing happens.
I’ve been a writer for about as long as I can remember. It all started when I was a kid.
I used to spend hours on my parents’ old Compaq computer, writing page after page of silly stories, ranging from magical paints and talking dragons, to fun poems about a wizard. I would print them out and pass them off to my mother, who was my own personal editor. She would mark my mistakes and I would eagerly return to the keyboard and correct them, later proudly presenting her with my finished copy.
It was mostly a hobby back then, and I never knew what I would do with it in the future. I had numerous teachers who helped groom my skills, and I eventually decided that journalism would be my future. I graduated with an English degree focusing in journalism in 2010.
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