Military Life

People who are not part of the military family can't fully understand what it means to live the military life. Anyone in the military will understand this, and those who aren't a part of the military community may not. There are aspects that are similar between military life and civilian life, but so many people don't understand the uncertainty of military life. I know I talk frequently about Mason's forever changing work schedule but that's such a small part of the larger picture. In the military you have to be able to pick up and move when the boss man says, you have to say goodbye to friends all the time, you have to be separated from your spouse for months (or years if you're in the army) at a time. Think about all the changes you personally, and your spouse go through from one wedding anniversary to the next, and then imagine that entire year apart. Mason and I are very thankful that right now Air Force deployments are only 4 months, but in a world of unknowns that could be changed at anytime.

Despite, uncertainty and some of the negatives of military life, Mason and I do love the life that we have. On Friday, we found out that Mason will be stationed at Barksdale in an active squadron once he finishes training in January. This means, we'll be living here for the next 4 years! We've been waiting for this decision for awhile now. We're really happy that we're getting to stay in Shreveport, although we would have been fine if we had had to move to North Dakota. Staying in Shreveport means we get to stay in our house on base, very convenient and big. Financially this will be really good for Mason and I. We have friends who will also be staying in Shreveport which is nice for us too. There are also several "classes" that Mason will have to attend in the next few years that are "hosted" at Barksdale so that's an added benefit. If we lived in Minot that would be more TDYs where we'd have to be apart for months/weeks at a time.

Other than the big news of getting to stay here, we've just been hanging out. Work is busy for me, and now more than ever I'm searching for teaching positions. Mason's been busy studying and working on his masters. We took time to go see the movie UP yesterday at the base theater, for $2 a piece you can't beat it. Today we hit the pool and enjoyed cooling off from the heat. The nap from 4-6pm is probably the cause for the insomnia allowing me to write this post at 4:30am...oh well, I have a light day of work tomorrow.