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National Guard & Reserves

We know you aren’t “just like everyone else.” We here at Mission: Milspouse see you and support you right alongside our active-duty component!  

There may not be an installation nearby, and your unit might not have hosted a family “readiness” meeting since 1992. However, you are still a part of the military community, no matter what season of service your National Guard/Reserve member is navigating.

From annual training (that may or may not actually be “two weeks in the summer”)  to weekend training each month, or units recently activated, we are here to get you connected and to empower you with the knowledge you need to succeed.

Here you will find a list of blogs to speak to your experience, and hopefully offer some encouragement and insight along the way. 

My Army Journey

My Army Journey

Hey, I’m Dakota. As y’all might be able to tell, I’m new to Army Wife Network. I’d like to tell you a bit about my journey into the United States Army. 

Joining the military wasn’t something I planned on doing—actually, it was the last thing on Earth I thought I would ever do. No one in my family is associated with the military, and up until I joined I knew next to nothing about the Army. Serving in the military had never even crossed my mind until one day, during the last few months of my senior year of high school, I was talking to a friend who was joining the Army, and they said, “Have you ever thought about joining?” 

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We Wish You Knew: Feelings from Home

We Wish You Knew: Feelings from Home

National Guard life is so different than “Big Army.” At least as many people often assume.

Well, it is not.

There is a group of elite soldiers within the National Guard who maintain a high operational tempo, and we are not just talking about once a month and two annual trainings a year. We are talking about Joint Combined Exchange Trainings, TDYs, schools, deployments, and Guard weekend obligations. A lot of National Guard soldiers within this specific community also have civilian jobs that tie into the world of serving: government contracting, S.W.A.T, law enforcement, and more. This means that Guard spouses navigate alone most of the time.

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Thoughts from a Guardsman Spouse

Thoughts from a Guardsman Spouse

We hear it all the time. “It’s only once a month! It’s not that big of a deal!”

Truth is, it really is a big deal. Because those weekends are the worst.

Those are the weekends that all the ballgames, family commitments, and kids getting sick will happen.

Those are the weekends when the kids will throw every ‘tude known to man both at you and at each other.

Those are the weekends that all Hades breaks loose everywhere. Oh! And something always breaks!

Those are the weekends you question yourself the most.

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We Aren’t Just Weekend Warriors

My husband and I meet in high school. Life goes on. We graduate. He goes into the Marines. Then to the Georgia Guard. Then the Ohio Guard. Wherever life took him, his love for the military followed right along with him.

As for me, I fumbled around. Took way too many years to find myself.

Eighteen years after graduation, life brings us back together once again. About a year after we started dating, we went on a New Year’s trip to New Orleans with my sister and her hubby (who has been in the Army National Guard for many years). The boys talked military and beer all the way to, from, and during the trip. My sister and I joked we could have stolen their credit cards and gone on a shopping spree and they would never have known it.

 By the time we headed back, my sister overheard the infamous “you should sign back up” conversation.

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Mission: Milspouse is a
501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

EIN Number: 88-1604492

Contact:

hello@missionmilspouse.org

P.O. Box 641341
El Paso, TX 79904

 

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