Posted on Sep 7, 2021
What Things Were Difficult to Communicate to Family and Friends About Your Military Service? Login & Share to Win!
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Military Family
Military Life
Support
Experience
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 423
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Being a the ship's bridge, sliding down a wave a few times taller than a destroyer, submarining into the next wave and watching green water surround the bridge.
Walking on bulkheads.
Getting sent down to engineering for a BT punch.
Crossing the line (shellback or blue nose).
The purpose of (the original) chief's initiation.
Why do you still call bathrooms "the head", walls "bulkheads", ceilings "overheads" and floors "decks"?
This could easily become a very long list.
Walking on bulkheads.
Getting sent down to engineering for a BT punch.
Crossing the line (shellback or blue nose).
The purpose of (the original) chief's initiation.
Why do you still call bathrooms "the head", walls "bulkheads", ceilings "overheads" and floors "decks"?
This could easily become a very long list.
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The biggest problem I had in communication with my family was being so many nautical miles away. This being before computers were a big thing. Telephone availability was severely limited, you had to be ashore, Then if you found one, you probably had to wait in line just for a short conversation. Fortunately the mail, (on paper communication) worked very well, it was always special when mail call was held. Such a variety of perfume and lipstick in those mail bags. It was a special perfume that has led to a 38 year marriage, still love it.
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The rather serious injury I received while deployed in a classified operation.
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It was always hard for my family when I had to serve OCONUS and go away to a war zone. They were always grateful when I came back home.
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As a female, I must say, "discrimination against females." This was back in the '60s when I joined the AF. Not all males were discriminatory, but enough to be noticeable.
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SGT Carl Watson
I read a statistic AF report that indicated a few years ago that 1,000 reports of rape or molestation were investigated while only five were found guilty. One was discharged, two were penalized yet allowed to remain in the service and the last two voluntarily discharged.
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Well, let's see...had one sister tell me I gave up my place in the family when I joined the Army, as only losers joined the military. Mom was really pissed that I couldn't make it home from my brother's wedding. Try explaining to your mom that you just arrived at a new duty station, that's participating in a major field exercise, and nobody is authorized leave for any reason other than emergency. She didn't believe me. She didn't talk to me for damned near six months. Oh well. After I was hurt, several of my siblings bitched about how their taxes pay my disability benefits. I really don't have a while lot to do with my siblings much any more. I ended up moving 5,000 miles away from them. I make my own family.
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PVT Lois Bray
I guess your sister doesn't love her freedom to do or say anything she wants. That is why men and women join the military to fight for freedom and the right to be free. Your mom doesn't want to understand that you don't have a 9 to 5 job that you can just take off when she snaps her fingers for you to do this or that with the family. The military is a 24/7 job that you can't just drop everything and do what she wants you to do. As far as your siblings bitching about their tax dollars paying for your disability, that is funny, when they get their taxes, they get it back, why are they so worried about what you are getting instead of being thankful that you gave your all for the military and yes, you got hurt. They need to be thankful that they had a daughter and sister that thought of protecting their right to freedom instead of being their puppet for their own use. I salute you and have your back. My parents were proud I went in the military. I changed when I got out. I looked at people in a different way now and still you will find some that wonder why did you go in, what made you think you can change the world. Those people I don't have time for. The only ones that knows how you feel and why you did what you did is other women vets, like myself. Sometimes, you have to find other friends that will back you up, no matter what. Hang in there, they will find out one day, that they were wrong in the way they treated you. You have a sister in me.
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OPSEC. Seriously. Don't post about what I do or who I am if you're not going to verify every friend request.
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PO1 Charles Wadlington
Too Funny! My Dad was the worst. I had to censor myself from telling him ANYTHING! But his incessant digging for "details" did set me up well for SERE school.
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During the 10 years I was stationed at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the 2,000+ tri-service and civilian staff members treated over 50,000 wounded warriors from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was difficult to explain to friends and family back home how hard it was to see men and women in uniform being injured while fighting for others. It’s also nearly impossible to communicate the toll patient care can take on the medics who care for the heroes who are harmed fighting the good fight. Unless you’ve experienced military patient care up close and personal, it’s hard to relate. I’m now retired after 27 rewarding years of service. God bless those who continue providing top notch medical care to our wounded warriors.
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I come from a large family. 9 children. ( we were the small family in the hood ). I and my younger brother were the only ones to join the military family. He was a marine for 20+ years. I did my time in the army. My family could not understand how we could join institutions that may end up killing people. My brother was an Embassy guard in Kuwait when the embassy was blown up way back when. He survived. It was then that they realized why we did what we did. We grew up watching our hero's on the big screen. Patton, the battered bastards of Bastogne, John Wayne in so many movies as the hard corp marine. It is because we love our country that soldiers join. It took a long time for my siblings to understand. They get it now.
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