SSG Private RallyPoint Member 7397319 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div> 2021-11-30T10:16:17-05:00 SSG Private RallyPoint Member 7397319

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2021-11-30T10:16:17-05:00 2021-11-30T10:16:17-05:00 SSgt Christophe Murphy 7397398

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>It&#39;s too general of a question for me. Personally I think my service has made me a better person and in turn a better parent but I don&#39;t think that can be said for everyone. Just like I don&#39;t think all Veterans of the Military are heroes or good people by default because they served. I know plenty of Veterans who sucked when they were in, suck now as a Veteran and suck as a parent. I also know civilians who are excellent people and excellent parents. It is on the individual.

2021-11-30T11:03:42-05:00 2021-11-30T11:03:42-05:00 SSG Donald H "Don" Bates 7397414

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>That is a tough one. I keep looking back and have many regrets as to my parenting skills.

2021-11-30T11:08:54-05:00 2021-11-30T11:08:54-05:00 MSG Private RallyPoint Member 7397442

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I can&#39;t rightly say that my serving has made me a better or worse parent by comparison. I just try to do what&#39;s right by my kids and for my kids as best I can. I mean, that&#39;s all any of us can do, really. Although we do find shitbirds both in and out of the Service that are parents. We also find people that are great parents both in and out. It all boils down to the individual.

2021-11-30T11:29:53-05:00 2021-11-30T11:29:53-05:00 SSgt Private RallyPoint Member 7397553

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I think my military service made me a better person. I think being a better person made me a better parent.

2021-11-30T12:31:46-05:00 2021-11-30T12:31:46-05:00 CPT Private RallyPoint Member 7397587

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>It certainly has put perspective on me. I had kids after I entered service, and after I commissioned. <br /><br />Basically........ young soldiers can be like little whiny brats. Drill SGT&#39;s are like 2-year olds with tantrums you can&#39;t control and just have to tolerate and drown out of your head while trying to execute tasks with constant annoying distractions. <br /><br />I don&#39;t let my kids whine and get away with crap, why should I give a &quot;grown adult&quot; that latitude. <br /><br />**************<br /><br />What is NOT LOST ON ME, is when I was a little kid (the age you can barely remember to those days) I remember being in AWE of my grandfather&#39;s blues hanging in his closet. WW2, Korea, Vietnam, 32 years of service looks pretty impressive as a ribbon rack. <br /><br />So........... I try to remember the rare opportunity I have been given that my kids will have that impression of me as well. My oldest is already displaying that when I hear feed back from his teachers at school in how he will speak highly of his parents and their service. <br /><br />I don&#39;t get to see it first hand, but I&#39;m starting to see evidence that his pride is there. I certainly had it of my grandfather. If I get an opportunity to wear a uniform when I drop them off or pick them up from school I jump on it. That way I can keep that parent who is a medical doctor in check every time he wears his surgeon gown/mask flaunting his profession to the surrounding kids/parents :-)

2021-11-30T12:53:05-05:00 2021-11-30T12:53:05-05:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 7397729

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I don&#39;t think it ultimately matters. No one is an expert at parenting. Everyone is learning on the job as a parent from the day their first child is born even up until that child is an adult. <br /><br />I was 10 years in when I had my only child. I had a lot of nieces and nephews and her dad has 3 other kids who I have known since they were little. But I definitely had no idea what I was doing when I gave birth. Then I got thrown a curve ball with her diagnosed with a rare genetic kidney disorder at 6 weeks old. I definitely had no comparison for that since no one in my family or my ex husband&#39;s family has dealt with anything like that. Add in that I was doing it alone even when I was married. I had to learn on the go every single day for the last 7 years through all of it. I don&#39;t know if being in the military has made me handle it better than someone who isn&#39;t. <br /><br />My dad never served in the military and I think he was a pretty good dad. He wasn&#39;t perfect - no one is. But he did the best he could given the situation he faced with my mother. He basically raised five kids on his own. He worked two jobs at a point. He taught us discipline yet never ever put hands on us. Never abused us in any way. After having a child I look back and think yeah he had some missteps but again, everyone learns on the job as a parent. Everyone will parent differently and it&#39;s going to be based on how one was raised. A lot of people have generational trauma they have to overcome, or some people continue it. <br /><br />I don&#39;t think being in the military makes anyone better or worse at anything compared to those who didn&#39;t serve. I think it depends on the individual.

2021-11-30T14:08:43-05:00 2021-11-30T14:08:43-05:00 SPC Margaret Higgins 7398049

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><a class="dark-link bold-link" role="profile-hover" data-qtip-container="body" data-id="1570871" data-source-page-controller="question_response_contents" href="/profiles/1570871-12b-combat-engineer">SSG Private RallyPoint Member</a>: I feel that my military service has made me a better Facebook parent.

2021-11-30T18:13:58-05:00 2021-11-30T18:13:58-05:00 SMSgt Lawrence McCarter 7398487

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I tend to think a lot of the things that helped came from the way My own parents had brought Me up. My Dad was a Military Veteran and He did spend a lot of time with Me. He did teach responsibility and honesty and never had a bad temper or yelled and carried on. Much of what I learned from Him I used to raise my own Children. My Wife also contributed from another approach which also worked fine and between us We both did ok. Her father was a Veteran of the US Army. My Wife also as an school teacher also had some skills already in handling Young children. Yes the Military service helped Me with a lot of things. My three children Who are all grown now and two of them have their own kids and are also doing fine as parents. All three of the kids turned out fine and I&#39;m proud of all three.

2021-12-01T00:19:30-05:00 2021-12-01T00:19:30-05:00 Capt Joseph Olson 7398613

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Better.

2021-12-01T04:08:06-05:00 2021-12-01T04:08:06-05:00 GySgt Jack Wallace 7398803

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Great question!!! For me my years in the Marine Corps made me several time the better person/dad because of my military service. I think because of the drive/ and my son advised the standard/rules and physical fitness made my family better.

2021-12-01T07:57:21-05:00 2021-12-01T07:57:21-05:00 SPC Brian Pritchard/Hall 7399269

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Ask my son he’ll say no ask others and they would say yes as I do.

2021-12-01T12:43:53-05:00 2021-12-01T12:43:53-05:00 SPC Lyle Montgomery 7431096

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>It made me berrer. I grew up a lot and learned to appreciate life. It didn&#39;t help much with the problems with agent orange and the ptst that I have from my time as a grunt in Vietnam. I never went hunting as a kid and it just didn&#39;t seem right to be killing people. I was a kid, 18 years old, but the VA is taking good care of me now. Overall I can&#39;t complain. It was an experience of a lifetime and I wouldn&#39;t have missed it for the world.

2021-12-19T18:09:56-05:00 2021-12-19T18:09:56-05:00 1SG Russell S. 7431403

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Worse. Way too much stress and away time.

2021-12-19T21:30:54-05:00 2021-12-19T21:30:54-05:00 Cpl Craig Howard 7494733

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Where my Service has come in most handy as a parent, is when my Son asked me if he should join. I was better able to advise him of what to expect, the changes they would make of his ways, and my opinion on his best option of service to join. That is as far as the parenting went. The vast majority was the example my parents set for me.

2022-01-25T00:02:32-05:00 2022-01-25T00:02:32-05:00 SGT Dennis Barrow 7495291

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I know the discipline that i learned in the military helped me be a better parent. I passed that on to 4 of my 5 kids. (not sure what happened to the 5th one. lol).<br />None of my kids went into the military, (I am a bit saddened by that), but am ok with it. They turned out fine, hard workers, Disciplined and Very respectful of the military members and veterans that they meet. They know that they would not have what they do without the sacrifice of those members.<br />I live outside of Helena MT and the VA hospital and NG training center is here so they are interacting with military members all the time.

2022-01-25T09:54:10-05:00 2022-01-25T09:54:10-05:00 2021-11-30T10:16:17-05:00