Married Life vs. Army Life
My wife and I have been together for four years and married for one. We have a beautiful son who, is now, two years old. Lately, my wife and I have been fighting more than usual. Within the last year, I joined the military, specifically, the Army. For the first six months of our marriage, I had to leave for basic training and AIT, leaving my wife at home alone to watch over our son. Now that I am out and in the operational Army, there will be those times that I will be away for even longer periods of time. As it comes closer and closer to the time of being deployed, I think to myself, "Was joining the military the correct decision for my family?
When I ask myself that question, I think back to the reasons as to why I joined in the first place. My main reason was to be able to take care of my family. They have always been my first priority, but the Army makes me always place the mission first. When I finally do get deployed, I will be away again. Leaving my wife alone to take care of the house and our son is something I never wanted to do, but it is my duty to serve my country. During deployment there will be almost no contact and I think that my wife feels like that is the worst part. Isn’t communication key to any relationship to work, grow, and stay alive? Without communication she feels that our marriage will fall apart. These are the reasons for some of the fighting that my wife and I have been having over the past couple of months.
Another reason I look back on is the benefits that the military provides to its soldiers and their families. Before I enlisted, I was struggling to find and keep dead end jobs to support my family with the basics. The benefits provided are similar and different from that of the private sector. Soldiers with families receive monetary benefits such as housing and extra grocery funds to supplement the basic pay received every month. Single soldiers live in the barracks and only get enough money to eat...