Rants and raves ~ I do this at times.

I am a military spouse, among all the other rolls in my life. This one brings no more pride than any of the others, but it demands the most out of me.
One thing I have noticed through out my career as a military spouse, is that people look at you and see some sort of woman made of steel, like you are unbreakable, well it may be true to a certain degree. But Military spouses are just people. Just regular people who have been handed a large task. Wether the task is difficult or not is entirely up to how you handle it, or don't handle it.We put up with alot and also do it , quite a bit of the time, alone. But then there are a whole slew of single parents out there that do it all the time. That is not really what I am ranting about. I know how it works and I deal with it. I don't complain, I just take things as they come and remember that when my spouse retires, it will be done. I will have the rest of our life together to spend with him and we will have an OK retirement to go along with whatever my income will be at that time.
What I get upset about is actually with in the Military community. This whole idea that deployment is the only stressed out time, or that a military spouse only needs support when the Soldier is on Deployment. Or that the children are only affected when Mommy or daddy are deployed.
Ya see, we are not Active Duty, and we are not National Guard. We are Active Guard and Reserve. that means my husband is full time, but he is in the National Guard. We get some of the benefits of being full time, like a job, but alot of the benefits that go along with Active Duty, does not apply. Like, a big one, support, being involved with other military with in a community. Inside that community if your car breaks down, or you get sick, there is a community of support there to help 24/7. There is none of that in the AGR.
In fact, you might as well crawl off the planet because Big Army doesn't give a S--- about you, and neither does regular guard. Regular Guard things that you get more than you deserve. This is all how it feels, by the way you get treated when it comes to needs. And there is just not programs out there set up for those that fit into this category. (AGR) Besides this, I get so tired of listening to other spouses whine about the spouses being gone. Ok, I know they are deployed, and it is dangerous. Hey, you are married to a soldier, be proud, but don't whine about it. There are lots of tragedy's in the world. my husband is gone except for 8 days out of every month. Because the full time job, which in the economy today, is a difficult thing to come across or hold on to, is 4 hours away. We don't get extra pay like separation pay. Though our family is pulled apart and suffers just as much as if we were experiencing separation of a deployment, and we pay for this. It cost extra money out of his pay to hold two living spaces. We are not splurging either. He lives in a motor home. It is not the Ritz. He does not get paid danger pay either, and it is dangerous driving on these high ways. Alot of people die every day in automobile accidents. But there is no compensation for what he is doing for the Uniform.
"Well, he comes home on his weekends", (as long as he has it off, Cars break down, animals run out of food, house hold items break down, I GET SICK. life does not stop just for me, just because my husband is not deployed but has to go out of town every week for his job in the military.
The whining and the complaining and the "oh look at me, I am a military spouse and my spouse  is deployed, so I am more important than anyone else" kind of attitude makes me sick.
     Ambulance chasers, attention hounds, call it what ever you want. It is exhausting to listen to. Get over it and get on with your life, do something good for you and your kids and quit complaining, so when your spouse does come home they can enjoy you rather than have to be responsible for all your misery from when they were gone.
By the way, I have managed to live through 2 deployments, one with a storm that was compared to the Columbus day storm on the  Oregon Coast and the other, My son was born and my Mother passed away.  I survived, and didn't need alot of outside support. No body took my picture, no body gave me an award. It was my job to hold it together and take care of my kids, and that is what I did. GAHHH!