The release of the 2013 Blue Star Families Survey

Photo by Blue Star Families

Yesterday, Blue Star Families, a national organization that seeks to support, connect and empower military families, released their 2013 survey. I took the survey myself and found it extremely in depth. As I don't have children, some of the questions didn't apply to me. Overall, you should read it. All spouses and service members should because it helps us understand our unique community and culture.

 Here are some of the statistics I found a little startling:

• "68 percent of military spouses reported that being a military spouse had a negative impact on their ability to pursue a career." Military spouses have to move around a lot, but I don't see why so many business let that be a black mark. Spouses work all over the country, at large companies and small ones, so they can bring a variety of experience to the office. They have life experiences, volunteer experiences, education, that is often greater than that of the civilian sector. I remember reading a study a few years ago that said, compared to their civilian counterparts, military spouses are often much more educated. Sure, education is not the same as work experience, but it shows that spouses have a dedication to a specific career. More business need to be open to hiring spouses.

• Of those who had suicidal thoughts, only "30 percent of service member sought help." I've been saying this for years, but the military needs to learn how to handle suicide. They're slowly improving, but 30 percent seeking help is not enough. We need to work to end the stigma associated with suicide. The military loses too many good people that way.

• Concerns about our military children was shared in the survey as well. Common fears were the child feeling abandoned by the deployed parent (especially after experiencing multiple deployments), stresses on parenting that could have lasting affects and the education gap between states. All of those are valid concerns. I don't believe any of this can be fixes within the military, though. As parents, we need to do what we can to make the child feel included, not abandoned and really crack down on our parenting skills. Rules remain rules even when the service member is gone. More spouses also need to be active in understanding their child's education. If the child isn't receiving an adequate education, parents need to step in and see what can be changed. This applies to spouses AND civilians. We need to take more interest in the education of our future generation. Surprisingly though, while there were serious concerns about child development in the military, many responded that they feel their children benefit from this lifestyle.

• "14 percent reported being unhappy or very unhappy" in their marriage and "32 percent report working out arguments with great or some difficulty." Yikes. To many of you, 14 percent seems like a small number. To me, it's just too high. The Army has had the greatest increase in divorce over the last 10 years than any other branch. The military has quite a few marriage support options, but with the cuts from sequester, it's possible they won't be as widely available. Here's the thing — if YOU have problems within your marriage, fix them. Whether it's religious counseling, secular counseling, non-military counseling through things like MilitaryOneSource or trying it on your own, start trying. Communication is and always will be key to any relationship. If you can't communicate your frustrations, wants, needs or other feelings effectively, you won't get anywhere. Yelling and screaming won't do it either. It seems a lot of spouses don't seek help because they're worried it will get back to command. Then you need to try resolving it yourself or seeking off-post or private assistance. Military Family Life Consultants don't keep records and only report things to the command if they involve abuse or suicide (as will most other services as most state laws require it). Others believe the problem is their husband not being home (either for deployments or work) and no counseling will fix that. Well, your marriage is probably bad for more reasons than your husband not being there or else when he isn't home, he's out somewhere on his own. That one can't be held against the military.

• "92 percent of respondents felt the general public does not 'truly understand the sacrifices made by service members and their families.'" OK, I've said this many times in the past and I'll say it again — we cannot expect ANYONE to understand something they haven't experienced first-hand. We learn through experience. I can ASSUME that I know how hard a doctor's life can be, but I will never truly understand because I don't live that life. I would like to know how many of that 92 percent EXPECT the general public to understand. We can't have those expectations. First, the general public doesn't pay attention. At least majority of them. The ones that do may see it as patriotic duty, but they still probably don't truly understand. I won't go into it, but the way so many military spouses respond to civilians, I'm not surprised they don't understand. We rarely ever help them to.

Did YOU read the survey results? What did YOU find shocking?

 

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Happy Spouse Appreciation Day to all the military spouses out there! Sure, we don't get a day off for it or anything, but it's nice to be recognized.

Today you can read tons of thank yous from across all military associations — MOAA, USAA, installations, etc. Of course, with those thank yous, they often use the term "serve." Apparently that term upsets some groups of people out there.

So do military spouses also serve?

I believe they do.

I don't believe we serve because of what we sacrifice being married to service members. That's something we knew would happen when we got married. I believe we serve because war affects us too.

No, I did not sign on a dotted line, willing to lay down my life for this country. I don't train multiple times a year to go fight a war. I don't deploy anywhere in the world and stare death in the face every day. I don't have to worry about being severely injured.

But I did sign a contract saying I would stand behind my husband through anything life throws at us. I prepare myself to be without him as he trains in the field, accepting more responsibility at home so he won't be tired. I accept that I will be forced to do most of the work regarding caring for our newborn, simply because my husband needs his sleep. I worry about how our daughter will change when she realizes Daddy isn't around for her when she feels she needs him. I accepted I will not be enough to console my children after they win a sporting event and Daddy couldn't be there to see it. I accepted I would take on more so my husband could focus on his job. I wait at home as he deploys out into the world, worrying that one day I will open my door and not see him, but two uniformed soldiers. I accepted that if he was wounded while deployed, I would be right there through his recovery.

I had two choices the day my husband proposed: Say no and not marry a man I couldn't imagine being without, or say yes to marrying him — accepting all the above.

But that's not why I believe we also serve. War doesn't only affect the service member. It affects everyone in the household. I believe children serve, too.

If a service member is wounded, the Wounded Warrior lifestyle becomes the spouse's and entire family's lifestyle. If he is killed, the entire family becomes a Gold Star family and that affects everyone. If he comes home with a TBI or PTSD, that affects the entire family, who have to be aware of what it means. Because I signed my contract four years ago when I married my husband, I accepted all those possibilities.

I serve too, just not in the same capacity as my husband.

I don't like those bumper stickers or shirts that say, "Army Wife. Toughest job in the Army." Being an Army wife is not a job. It isn't a career. I don't like when people say we serve because we have to make a lot of sacrifices. Tons of civilians (meaning not affiliated with the military) make sacrifices every day for the benefit of their family, even ones that are similar to our own.

We serve because war affects us all. We have to figure out what to do the first time our husband hits the ground after a car backfires. We have to figure out what to do when our husband has his first nightmare. We need to be there to console after they come home severely wounded, telling them we won't ever leave them. We are there to console them after a buddy they serve with commits suicide. These are things our civilian counterparts don't have to worry about or deal with, and many of them aren't even aware we deal with these things. They're private and not often shared with the community.

But because of the affects of war, military spouses serve too.

I've met some amazing women who demonstrate what it means to serve their country by being a spouse.

I have a dear friend who has stood by her husband for the last two years after he suffered severe injuries in Afghanistan. She now speaks out about the care our wounded warriors receive and has spoken on behalf of the USO, both because of her volunteer experience there and the assistance they provided to her.

I've met a fellow blogger who created a non-profit to benefit wounded warrior children after seeing the changes it caused in her own children.

I've met a comedienne and former Marine wife who strives to uplift spouses everywhere. She refers to us as the Silent Ranks.

I've met a former Navy Seal spouse who stood by her husband through 25 years, PTSD, TBI, severe injuries and all the other affects of war.

I've met two women who dedicate their lives to teaching spouses how to accept this lifestyle with strength, grace and poise,

These ladies know what it means to serve as a spouse.

Don't let anyone make you feel like you're "just a spouse." There are many women who enter this lifestyle and realize they can't make it through. But there are still many of you left that accept everything the lifestyle throws your way.

And you serve too.

Do you play the deployment card?

I read an article a few weeks back on SpouseBUZZ. The woman who wrote it is one of the founders of the website and has many years of experience as a military spouse. She's also considered a military family subject matter expert, which after reading her article, I have no idea how she got that title. You can find it here.

In case you aren't up for reading the entire article, here is the gist of it: A military spouse (Jacey Eckhart) ordered a TV to her home. Her husband wasn't deployed and I assume she didn't have any children at home to help at the moment. The delivery men brought in the TV and as they were leaving, Eckhart asked if they could mount it on the wall. They said it would be a $258 fee in addition to the delivery fees. She didn't like that response, so she told them that her husband was deployed, in hopes they would do the work and not charge her for it. They still said she would need to pay the fee and she got upset about it, thus writing her story.

I scrolled through the comments and even left my own because I have a huge problem with this.

Let me first say that this isn't about people asking for help when their service member is deployed. We ALL need assistance at some point: a ride to pick up our car at the shop, lifting heavy boxes from our attic or garage to decorate for the holidays. Asking for help isn't a bad thing. But when you ask for help from strangers, and EXPECT their help when you claim your husband is deployed, THAT'S a problem.

First of all, Eckhart should never have expected a company to waive a fee for her simply because her husband was deployed. Companies are businesses and they need to make money. They also charge these fees to free themselves of any liability. She would have been offered a paper to sign after paying them, accepting the liability herself if the TV fell off the wall. It protects the company, just in case. She should NOT have used her husband's deployment as an excuse for free goods.

Second, she just told two male strangers, who were in her house with her alone, that her husband is not coming home any time soon. Does no one remember PERSEC anymore? As spouses, we need to be mindful of our personal safety when talking with strangers, whether or not they're in our homes. You NEVER tell someone you don't know that your husband is deployed. Even when I worked as a journalist, I never told people that. It isn't smart.

Obviously not every stranger is going to cause you harm, but you really can't be too careful. You should not broadcast to people, especially NOT for free things, that your spouse is deployed.

If you can't do something by yourself, you should hire someone. If you can't afford to hire someone, enlist the help of a friend or two. 

My biggest question, is why do so many military spouses feel that saying their husband is deployed should get them free things? And then get angry when it doesn't apply?

There is this sense of entitlement emanating through the military community again. It seems to come in spurts. Spouses believe they deserve services, discounts, free items, simply because of what their service member does. Let me remind everyone: We don't sign a contract when we marry our service members. The only things owed to us are PX, commissary and health care benefits. That's it. We are not entitled to anything else and we aren't owed anything else for our sacrifice. No one in the civilian community owes us anything, either. And that's the truth of it.

Yes, it's great when the civilian community gets together to extend support to military spouses through non-profits like Operation Homefront. Those occasions are well-received and most spouses are extremely grateful to see that kind of support. It doesn't go unnoticed. While those things are great and I've attended at least one of their events, we aren't OWED things like that. Just because an airline offers discounts to the service member doesn't meant hey extend to the spouse (though some airlines do it out of kindness rather than protocol).

Just last week I read an article about a woman who was upset because an airline didn't check her bag for free. She felt she was owed the waived fee because she was "military." She thought she should be able to board the plane early because she was "military." Those benefits normally only extend to active-duty military — not their spouses or children. The fee may have been waived for her in the past if she was with her husband (it happened to me and the Mr.), but normally if you fly alone and not on military orders, they won't waive fees for you (I actually asked about it once).

It's fine to inquire about military discounts, but if they don't do them or the shop owner tells you it's only for the service member, don't argue with them. Don't expect a business owner to give you a discount every time.
So here's the short of it — Stop using your service member's deployment status to try to get free things or make people do things for you. It does a disservice to your spouse's sacrifice and and makes you look desperate. Stop EXPECTING things from people or feeling like you're owed something by strangers. It casts a negative light on the MilSpouse community and makes us ALL look bad.

So what are your thoughts? Have you ever used the deployment card? Have you seen a friend or someone else using it?

Part III: Unpacking and settlng in

So sorry it's been a while! We got so busy setting up house, then I flew to PA for my baby shower, and then my parents and grandparents came to visit this past weekend. Now I've got some time to sit and write, so let me fill you in on our unpacking process and settling in our new home!

We were so fortunate to find our housing development and have everything settled before driving from LA to AZ. When we arrived, we unloaded our partial DITY move items and brought them in. I was able to unpack some things like dishes, but a lot had to stay in boxes, containers and bags.

We didn't wait long. About three days after we moved in, our household goods showed up. There is no relief like it! I parked my pregnant booty by the door and had the Mr.'s help in unpacking things as other things were brought in. As always, I unpack the kitchen first so I can get dishes washed before putting them away. Plus, we use those things more than almost anything else in the house.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a great packing team. Some breakable items weren't wrapped or padded, while things that are unbreakable, like pens, were wrapped in layers of paper. My dining room items were packed with the outdoor garden hose. None of these things were even in the same room. I understand that every company has their own process, but seriously, does packing a garden hose with dining room items REALLY make any sense? Plus, they pulled items from other rooms to help fill boxes full. But then I had to keep going room to room to put our goods away. It was frustrating. And tiring.

We also had LOTS of damaged furniture. I get it, I can't expect everything to always go perfectly, but when we moved to LA, nothing was damaged. Not a single scratch or nick. Then, when we move to AZ, 11 pieces of furniture had gouges, nicks and scratches. I'm talking chunks missing from certain places. I did the full claims sheet and we're waiting on a call for someone to come out and survey our items to decide what to do. Hopefully we can get a lot of things repaired. I really don't want to go through the work of finding new furniture and I like the pieces I already have. Some of our scratched pieces are old, so we can't really replace them. I'll keep you updated on all that.

On the bright side, with the Mr.'s help, we were almost fully unpacked the first night. I left our bedroom boxes go for the night since they don't take long. We even started hanging things our first week.

Since then, we've enjoyed getting settled in. We love the town we live in and have enjoyed carnivals, dinners out, sightseeing in other towns and getting used to the weather. LA is so humid, but AZ is really arid. We won't really see any rain until monsoon season (yep, that's what they call it) in July and August.

I don't think I could live in this climate forever (it's really dried out my skin — we've even bought a humidifier to help with it all), but it's amazing to wake up each morning and see the beautiful mountains that surround our house. One of them even had snow on it up until the beginning of May. It's such a pretty landscape and not what I'm used to. I miss the greenery of the Northeast all the time, but this is a positive change. Unlike some other areas in AZ, we don't get the same high temperatures. The record here one summer was 104, which compared to LA's 116, I think I'll be fine with it. Most days it's in the 80s with a breeze. And the nights always cool off enough to have a fire, which the Mr. really likes.

My grandparents live near Phoenix, about 3.5 hours away, so we spent Easter with them. It had been a while since I've seen them. My grandfather suffers from Dementia, so being close-by, especially while pregnant, means a lot. It gives us all a chance to enjoy each other in case things get worse.

I had an AWESOME baby shower, hosted by my mom. None of the Mr.'s family could make it, but I had family friends there that came from as far away as Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey, just to celebrate one day with me. I hadn't seen some of them since my wedding. I loved it. My mom and dad completely outdid themselves, but I felt so blessed to have such amazing people to be around. Many of them shared their own motherly wisdom with me, which I will try to tuck away and remember later. My mom opted for a gift card shower, and the Mr. and I bought tons of baby things with them.

We're finally getting to decorate the nursery (we're doing a safari theme) and I'm so excited about that. It's the one part I've been looking forward to from the beginning. I have probably six boxes of baby stuff coming in the mail over the next two weeks. Can you believe how much there is to purchase? I guarantee we'll still forget some things.

My mom passed on my receiving blanket from the hospital, my first little hat and my first Christmas dress. I'd love to do something special with those items for her, using our baby when she comes. We'll see what I can come up with.

Any ideas? I'd love to hear what you think.
 

A few words on the Boston Marathon bombing

I planned to write this week about our recent move, but like many people yesterday, I was glued to my television, watching the events unfold on the streets of Boston. Since then, it doesn't seem right to write about something as asinine as a move.

With any breaking news, there hasn't been much to learn except for the experiences of those who were present and pictures of the aftermath.

I can't bring myself to call this a "tragedy," because that doesn't even come close to describing the devastation of more than 130 people hurt. I don't, however, shudder to use the term "terrorism." Because really, what other term can you use? We already know this wasn't some kind of freak accident.

Here's the thing: terrorism doesn't ONLY mean a militant Muslim comes to the United States to attack. This nation has faced many incidents of domestic terrorism and not so long ago. I'm tired of people using the term terrorism to make people think it's someone from the Middle East when there isn't any evidence of that. Believe it or not, our own citizens can be just as dangerous and also labeled terrorists for their actions.

Also, don't listen to the media telling you things link to Al Qaeda and past bombings, blah, blah, blah. It's all speculation. With any news story, preliminary reports are often incorrect and will be changed over the next week (it's been less than 24 hours). Assuming the nationality of the person responsible is jumping to conclusions. Let the official investigators do their job.

What struck the Mr. and me the most was how much this is like a war zone. It's tough to find a single individual within the military community who doesn't know someone whose life has been forever-altered by an IED. But we're more accustomed to dealing with the aftermath — whether service member or spouse. When the events unfold on the streets of something as wholesome and American as the Boston Marathon, civilians face something they've never had to before. Because of our military, this sort of thing isn't supposed to happen. People who thought they were safe are now facing the same injuries and recovery our wounded warriors have faced over the last 12 years. This is what middle eastern nations like Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel face almost daily, just normally on a much larger scale. We don't expect these things to happen here, though.

I was amazed at the reaction of the Soldiers present at the marathon yesterday. I was probably amazed because I'm not a Soldier and have never been in combat. I don't know the instinct that kicks in. They sprang into action before the smoke even cleared, fighting to get to the people behind the fencing and barricades. Some of them reacted faster than the police on scene did. And that's what needs to happen. When disaster strikes, we can't just run away from it all. Sometimes, we need to be ready to help people.

It's moments like yesterday when you realize there are two kinds of people in this world: The inhumane that are willing to trample others to save themselves then give media interviews about what happened, and the humane that will run toward the danger to help the innocent people affected or volunteer at aid stations and focus on those hurt.

These are things we all can carry with us every day. America has healed from terrorism many times in the past and we will continue to heal now. President Obama once said that, "terrorism shall never shake the resolve of this great nation." I believe that's true. But if we band together this time with the additional kindness and support as after 9/11, let's hope we don't lose it. We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent.

 

Part II: Traveling to our new home

So sorry for the delay in getting this next segment up! We're a one-computer family at the moment. The Mr. is in grad school and had a big paper due this week. In preparation, he was using my computer more than I was! We've also been spending a lot of time getting our new home set up, which is still a work in progress. Bear with me and I will soon be on a regular schedule. :)

Welcome to Part II of our PCS journey. Last time, I talked about our experience with the packers and movers as well as our time in hotels before leaving Fort Polk for good.

It was a 1,300-mile journey, but we DID eventually make it to our destination. We did a partial Do-It-Yourself move, so both our vehicles were tightly packed. The Mr. traveled with our almost three-year-old Dachshund (Sasha) and I took our three-year-old cat, Josie. Our dog is a great little traveler, but our cat isn't. Because she gets so nervous and pants, we've always used a light sedative called Acepromazine. I've heard many people say I shouldn't sedate my pets, blah, blah, blah, but I don't think a 1,300-mile drive under that much stress would be good for her. The sedative is enough to calm her and make her a little sleepy, but not knock her out.

Have you ever seen those Pill Pockets in pet stores? It's a little pocket you hide pills in to give your pets. I always just wrap the pill in cheese for our dog, but that doesn't work with the cat. She just eats around the pill. So I thought the pill pockets would make it easy. Apparently cats are still able to find the pill, so Josie didn't take it down too well. I knew she needed to have the pill, so I pinned her down, opened her mouth and made her take it. It worked! I was a little bit and scratched though.

Josie didn't like the first hour in the car and was actually throwing her body against the side of the cage. Once the sun started coming up, she seemed to settle and quiet down. That was all the noise I heard for the first day.

We drove from Fort Polk, LA to Fort Stockton, TX. It was about 12 hours including multiple stops for gas, to walk the dog and to eat food. We went past Houston, San Antonio and some smaller towns along the way. It was a VERY long day. The trip was made easier with walkie talkies. The Mr. and I bought them before we left LA and were glad we had them. We were able to communicate throughout the drive without trying to dial a phone number. It was nice to check-in saying, "I need to stop at the next rest stop!" and have him respond. We reached Fort Stockton at about 6 p.m. and were tucked in for the night.

We had to "cat proof" the room so Josie wouldn't have anywhere to hide out. We wanted to be able to find her in the morning for her second dose of pills. Cats can get into some of the smallest places, so we shoved pillows where we could to fill in holes. I don't recommend the area, though. There wasn't much around and the hotel wasn't very nice. The bed was comfortable, though, and I was OUT!

The next morning we woke up early, played the pill game, filled up for gas and left on driving day 2. It turned out to be a very interesting day. Only about 15 minutes into our drive, we stumbled across an accident that had JUST happened. There weren't many lights, so we came up on it fast, not knowing what was there. The entire road was covered in debris. The Mr. decided we could go around it and keep on driving, so that's what we did. I was nervous about a flat tire, but we escaped unscathed!

This day took us right through El Paso and RIGHT along the border with Mexico. When I say we were right along the border, I mean one side of the highway was Mexico and the other was the U.S. Billboards were even written in Spanish. It was interesting to see how different the two sides of the highway looked though.

We also drove through New Mexico. That was the first time I experienced the Border Patrol stops. It didn't really make sense to have them, since all the ask is, "Are you a citizen?" Doesn't that seem easy to just say "yes" and drive on? I didn't have to show ID or anything. That just doesn't seem very secure to me.

It was pretty to see the landscape changes from state to state. Texas was pretty flat for the most part, New Mexico had these high cliffs and little mountains, then Arizona opened up flat and mountainous in some parts. The colors changed too, from greens of Texas, to the rocks of New Mexico and then the yellow grass areas of Arizona.

We got to our new housing development and had to check-in with the leasing office for final paperwork. They made it quick and easy and we soon had our keys and unlocked the door to our new home. Our driveway looks right out toward mountains, and we can see the snow-capped mountains from our backyard. 

It felt SO GOOD to finally pull in the driveway and not be behind the wheel of a car! We unloaded our belongings and set up the air mattress. It wasn't long before we were both in bed.

Part III will be about the unpacking process. Ours was an interesting one. And I'll even let you in on the area. So far, we're very happy here!

Part I: Packing and moving

We've made it! I know it's been a while since I last wrote. We got so busy with purging the house, organizing items and wrapping up any loose ends before the move. Things were far to hectic during the moving process for me to sit down to write. I'll break down our full PCS to clue you guys in to how the Mr. and me did ours. Maybe some of our tips can help you too! So what's been going on?

Our packers and movers came to our Polk house to prepare everything for the move. We had three packers arrive on a Monday and they all seemed pretty nice. We gave them the house tour and they wasted no time getting started. I was a little weary of how they were packing, but I parked my pregnant butt on the couch and let them do their thing. I don't like to hover, especially since I don't know how their company required them to pack. If they had any questions, I was right there to answer. I got nervous when the one packer picked up some expensive art prints, turned to get them wrapped and smacked a piece of furniture with them. All right in front of me. There were some other issues with the packing process, but we tried to take good care of them and make them comfortable.

After about four hours, our entire life was reduced to about 100 boxes. It's weird walking through your house that you spent three years building and seeing it at its bare bones again. As many items as we had in our bedroom, for example, was reduced to maybe 8 boxes. As I walked through the house, I actually felt a little sad to see everything taken down and packed. The experience was definitely bittersweet.

 The next day, the movers came to take all the boxes and furniture out of the house. In only took them three hours and they seemed like a good group of guys. The only problem was they didn't wrap any furniture before moving it out of the house. That probably explains the number of scratches, chunks missing and nicks on so many of our pieces.

From Wednesday through Friday, the Mr. and I were living out of suitcases and eating out for almost every meal. We tried to at least make some healthy choices. We had an air mattress to sleep on and a bunch of bags on the living room floor. That's one BIG recommendation I have for PCS'ing. If you do a partial DITY, pack everything in boxes, plastic containers, duffel bags or suitcases. It makes it so much easier to pack a car when you don't have loose items. Plus it keeps things from falling out during driving and rolling around your car.

 It took some adjusting for our cat and dog. Both of them were really unsure of the empty house and they seemed a little stressed until they got used to their new surroundings. Unfortunately, we were uprooting them on Friday.

We cleared housing that day, so we were off to a hotel for two nights. It was right off post, so we left our dog with our old neighbors (she loves spending time with them) and took the cat to the hotel. It went surprisingly well! The cat hid for a while, only sneaking out for a few minutes at a time to explore. We picked up the dog on Saturday night and brought her to the hotel for a good night's sleep before we started our long drive to AZ.

Overall, the experience wasn't that bad. I always get stressed during moves because I really don't want things broken. Not that we have much that is irreplaceable, but it's a hassle to go through the claims process to replace the items. And it's quite the waiting game. Once the boxes and furniture were out, I calmed down a lot. I only dreaded the drive to AZ. The Mr. and I have two cars: his and mine. He was taking the dog in his vehicle (lucky him) and I had the cat in mine. In a crate. For 1,300 miles. Two days. In a hotel and a small car. By myself. Can you tell she isn't a good traveler?

I was a little sad to leave Fort Polk. The installation gets a really bad rap, mostly by people who have never lived there before. If you've never been there or don't know much about it, it's a small installation. The main brigade there is the 4th Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, the only brigade of the division not housed up at Fort Drum, NY. There's also another brigade at Polk that is focused on DCRF missions (domestic disasters). It houses the Joint Readiness Training Center, where all light units go before they deploy to the middle east (the heavy units normally go to the NTC in California). It's a really interesting place with tons of history and amazing training models. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time out there for stories.

Other than what's on post, it's a pretty far drive to a shopping mall or recognizable restaurants. And that's the worst part of it. People complain about how "run down" the installation is, but they're doing a lot of work rebuilding things. In the time I was there we got a new brigade headquarters, they renovated the elementary school, we got a new PX, freshly paved roads, they broke ground for a new commissary, built a brand new huge CDC, new training buildings and probably more things I can't think of. It really isn't that bad.

I met some of the greatest people and made amazing friends that I'm sure will be a part of my life for a while. It was really sad to leave them — some of my best friends just had babies in the last year. They saw me pregnant and knew they wouldn't be able to meet the new baby for a while. Thank goodness for Facebook and cell phones! It's one simple way to keep the people close to you.

Anyways, I will post tomorrow about our trip out here and another post about moving in and our thoughts of our new home. We're very happy here, so stay tuned!