Month: October 2011

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #61

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The discussion continues on my latest SpouseBUZZ post: “Military Women and Military Wives: Enemies or Allies?” The comments section hasn’t completely generated into name-calling, which I’ll call a success, but I’m still far more interested in hearing possible solutions than more excuses for why two groups of adult women can’t be civil to one another. Got something to say? I’d love to see your voice added to the conversation.

All right, with “shameless plug” checked off my to-do list, it’s time for the…

A word that always makes me laugh is SCUBA. But that’s likely attributable to watching too much Venture Brothers.

If you looked in my refrigerator right now, the oldest thing you’d find would be mustard, probably.

CAP 70th AnniversaryIf I were written about in the newspaper today, on the front page, the headline would say “Local Civil Air Patrol Squadron Plans 70th Anniversary Gala.” But that would be an exaggeration; what with budgetary constraints and all, it’ll probably be more of a squadron pot-luck than an actual gala.  Still, it just dawned on me that I’ve got less than seven weeks to help put some plans together. Meep.

The last movie I saw was The Lion King 3D. Yes, I dragged Sampson, patient soul that he is, to a theater full of kids to relive my own childhood love of one of the few animated Disney films with no frilly princesses. Afterwards, I rewarded his indulgence of my desire by bursting into “Be Prepared” or “Hakuna Matata” at opportune moments throughout the next week. (You’re welcome, sweetheart!)

As we were getting into the car after the movie, I mentioned that I didn’t think that 3D added much to the movie. Sampson immediately responded, “Of course it did! It added three bucks to each ticket.” I stand corrected.

The best thing that happened to me in the last few weeks was getting to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, in Annapolis with my husband, his folks, and a congregation full of other Jews who are connected to the military. There aren’t that many of us, so we often feel like a minority within a minority: Sampson is always one of the only Jews in his Navy squadron, and we’re one of the few military families at our local synagogue. It is as refreshing as a crisp autumn breeze to spend time with people who understand both Yiddishkeit and the military life.

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this week’s MilSpouse Friday Fill-In!

Military Women and Military Wives

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SpouseBUZZMy latest post for SpouseBUZZ is about the relationship between women in uniform and those of us married to someone in uniform. Hard-to-shake stereotypes on both sides can turn command social functions from fun opportunities for colleagues and families to get to know one another into ordeals fraught with tension and dirty looks. Are military women and military wives doomed to be adversaries, forever incapable of mutual trust and understanding?

The comments section had yielded some interesting discussion already. Naturally, everyone has a story about “that wife” or “that female soldier” which seems to justify the stereotype and makes it hard to give other members of a group the benefit of the doubt. What I’m really interested in hearing, though, is some idea about how we can alleviate that mistrust. What can military wives do to ensure we’re not treating all of our husbands’ female colleagues like potential homewreckers? How can women in the military avoid seeming to “look down on” military wives (an issue that was brought up by a few spouses in the comments)?

I would love your feedback on my post. I truly want to believe that people living different facets of military life, in uniform or out, can build a supportive community together, but it obviously ain’t easy.