Welcome to AWN’s Monthly Recon Rendezvous link up! We’re so glad you are here. As the name implies, Recon Rendezvous is a place of community and connection. It’s an opportunity to explore and learn about our fellow military supporters’ lives, victories, trials, and experiences.
Each month, we “rendezvous” here to provide information, resources, and encouragement. So, do some “reconnaissance,” link up, swing by your “neighbor,” and leave a comment.
Welcome back to Motivational Milspouse Mottos! (Go ahead… Say that one four times fast.)
If you are just joining us, get caught up with last month’s installment.
Now, let’s not waste any more time. Back to it!
1. Make the best of the situations. Make the best of the duty stations.
This was a new one from my friend Dezi. It’s catchy and true, and even if most milspouses don’t say it exactly like this, we’re usually doing this in one form or another. Making the best of the situations, including each and every duty station.
2. This is my assignment, too, not just my service member’s.
Ugh, anybody else feel a little convicted on this one? I do. It’s so easy for me to get all in my me-me-me milspouse box and be tempted to pass blame onto my partner’s job/assignment when things get difficult, but fun fact—when we said “I do,” it covered all the bases. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. HOOAH!
3. Home is where the military sends us.
This is a classic one, and I dig it. I especially love it when it’s posted on those nifty little signs outside a front door. It encapsulates the adventure, flexibility, and challenges that milspouses face head on, nearly on a daily basis. (On that note: I feel like I need to get me one of these signs when we arrive at our next duty station… somebody remind me.)
4. No news is good news.
Ah yes, the ultimate coping motto we use when we’re tempted to get twitchy when we haven’t heard from our service member in what we deem an appropriate amount of time. It’s a good perseverance motto, especially for things like deployments, intense trainings, schools, etc. I keep this one in my back pocket.
5. Enjoy what you can, while you can.
Apparently a lot of my friends have catchy mottos! Another great phase about the ever-changing experience that is the milspouse life, and it captures that buzzword we all love—resiliency.
6. Roll with the punches.
Um, yeah. Self-explanatory. Because we have to.
7. Keep calm and soldier on.
This one requires us to take a deep breath, grit our teeth, and press on knowing that we can make it through anything. Plus, it’s really easy to find an infographic or pinnable picture online to match it.
8. Move on. Drive on. Keep that smile on.
Sure, our smile might be a bit forced. This powerful motto is very similar to the one listed above, but apparently, the themes of toughness, grit, perseverance, and optimism are kind of our milspouse themes. (Are you noticing a pattern here?)
9. Stop being so afraid of what could go wrong and start thinking of what could go right.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m a professional worst-case-scenario-thinker-upper, and I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that it isn’t only me. This manner of thinking isn’t usually very helpful, and it’s kind of draining. We need to redirect our thoughts about the potentially good things that could happen. After all, worry is like a rocking chair—it gives us something to do but gets us nowhere. (That’s another of my personal mottos; just thought I would toss it in there.)
10. All my best friends were strangers once.
Oh, this one makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! What a great perspective to have, because it’s true. We never know what stranger will soon become a best friend and milspouse sister for the rest of our life.
That’s it for this installment of our Motivational Milspouse Mottos. Be sure to tune in on the first of next month for the last and final part of this series!

Blog comment : home is where the arnt sends us. I can totally relate to this one as we just finished another PCS . Once we have been stationed for two years I get the moving “itch” again .