Terrell needs some military spouse help. He is all set to marry his fiancée in November. He leaves for Navy basic training in January. He plans to be a machinist mate on a submarine. That’s exciting.
Except now Terrell is starting to actually think about being on a submarine for months at a time. Now he is starting to hear about spouses who can’t be trusted during a deployment. Now he is starting to worry.
Since Terrell is a smart guy, he decided to go directly to the source: military spouses who have actually done a deployment or two. Here is the question he posted for you on one of our pages:
“I am very nervous leaving my future wife alone for the first time without me around handling all the business. The Navy offers a lot of programs to help spouses, but is there anything you can share that you and your husband did to help this process on your own? What was your husband’s longest deployment and the longest time you went without hearing from? Any advice would help.”
I think it is interesting that Terrell doesn’t really want to take part in any “programs” yet. I bet “programs” sounds like another word for something-is-seriously-wrong-with-you-Buddy. Or maybe Terrell is just like the rest of us. Maybe he and his fiancée are the kind of people who like to be self-sufficient.
So what are you going to tell this young couple to get them off to the right start? What can they do without outside help? Which programs did you use yourself that were worth attending? No fair suggesting things that you’ve heard are good or that would be good … for other people. What worked for you?
