Hello, fellow milspouses. My name is Andi, and I've been an Army wife for 13+ years. Though life as a military spouse has its *challenges*, I couldn't imagine any other life. I'm quite certain that I would be bored to death with mundane civilian life. My story, I'm sure, is similar to yours. I've moved many times over the past 13 years, endured a year-long unaccompanied tour and have recently welcomed my husband home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
I once had the wife of a civilian businessman tell me that due to her husband's extensive travel, she qualifies as a military spouse. Though I nodded my head and laughed, I knew that she had no idea what the life of a military spouse is like. I'm certain that she never worried about a rocket landing on her husband's hotel or thought that he was in danger of rolling over an IED while driving. I'll bet she never woke up, checked her email and said a prayer thanking God that her husband made it through yet another night. I tell this story to illustrate the point that we understand all too well - you must live this life to fully understand this life.
In a post-9/11 world, much is asked of military families. A military spouse must have invented, or at least defined, the term, "dig deep." Of all the people whom I've had the pleasure of meeting during my lifetime, none possess the resiliency of a milspouse.
Here at SpouseBUZZ, we plan to devote our time and energy to discussing issues that are unique to the military spouse community, and there are many. The authors of this blog are some of the most intelligent, humorous and interesting spouses I've ever known. Combined, we have 106+ years of milspouse experience, more than enough to give you some insightful, humorous, thought-provoking and meaningful content. We hope that you become an active participant here. We're interested in what you have to say and what you want to read, so please use the comment section often and email us with your questions and suggestions. This is your blog, not ours.
As for SpouseBUZZ features, you'll soon notice a tab at the top of our home page labeled "In Focus." Each author has selected an organization which supports our military. The authors will write a monthly column highlighting the work of their chosen organization. There is also an In Focus archive on the right navigation bar. The In Focus post will remain on top for the first few days of each month, so be sure to scroll down for new content.
You'll also find a resource center on the navigation bar which you can use to find information about jobs, benefits, finances, TRICARE and other topics important to military spouses.
We have a number of authors, and more will be added in the coming months, so click on the monthly archives to be sure that you didn't miss a post. We display the most recent posts on our front page, older posts are filed in the archives. We're sure you won't want to miss one word of BUZZ
I want to take the opportunity to thank Military.com for giving us this fabulous blog so that we can get to know one another, communicate with one another and better support the vast milspouse community.
So, welcome to YOUR "Virtual Family Support Group." Today, we're introducing ourselves to you, but we plan to get underway with our topics very soon. Belly up to the bar, kick your shoes off and let's get this party started.
