Enlisting in the Military when You Are a Mother

Going into the military is a major decision for anyone, especially now with all that is going on in the Middle East. It is even hard of a decision for a woman to make when she has children at home. There are many factors that must be taken in to consideration before the decision can fully be made.

I will be finishing up my paperwork next week enlisting in the military. I have weighed all options and choices allowed to me and have decided that the Army National Guard is the way to go. My only other decision I still need to make is whether to be a legal specialist or to be an MP (military police). My recruiter has made the decision a lot easier for me by making sure I fully understood my choices and what will be expected of me as a soldier in the Army National Guard.

Some will probably say that it is nothing to serve in the National Guard and that being full active Army would be the hard one, but with being a mother to young children the National Guard is going to be hard on our family but after much decision we can handle the National Guard.

One of the things that we had to look at was basic training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training). Basic training will last 9 weeks and during that time I can not see my husband or our children. For me this can be difficult but managed. AIT depending on what I choose to go for can be pretty long. If I go for legal specialist I will be gone to another state for 6 months, but if I go for MP I will be gone for 9 weeks and can do it at the base a few hours from our home.

We had to discuss all our options when it came to this and find out how we would manage. With the National Guard I have up to a year to go to basic training after enlisting. I will still drill one weekend a month and be paid but I just will not go to basic training until I decide to during that one year time frame. So we decided that I would do basic during summer vacation next year and my mom would watch the kids.

After basic training I can go straight to AIT or I can go home and take up to another year to do AIT. For us it is best if I do them in a split. Therefore I will go to AIT the following summer and again my mom will watch the children.

Deployment is another area where we had to take a close look and decide what would be in the best interest to our family. With being in the National Guard there is a chance that I would at some point be deployed. So we look at whether or not our marriage could survive a deployment. The answer came back in the end as yes after we had disuses everything including what would happen if we got lonely.

My fears of course have surfaced as to if my children would hate me if I was deployed and something terrible happened to me. They are still there and will always be a fear of mine but I am comfortable with my decision after I spoke with my husband. He assured me that if I did die while serving my country he would guarantee that the children respected me for it and did not hate me.

We have enlisted the help of my family when it comes to basic, AIT and even in the event of deployment. This has made it easy for me to follow my dreams and still be a mother to my children. The decision is not an easy one but it can be easier when everyone is taking part in the decision and in offering what they can and are willing to do to help out.

So if you are looking at enlisting in the military but don't think you can because you have children, then you are wrong. It may take more effort to ensure a successful transition from a civilian family to a military family but it can be done. Just take the time to discuss with your children and spouse as to what is the right decisions for you. After all doing a split between basic and AIT may not be right for you. Waiting a year to go to basic may not be right for you.

Make sure you know what you can and can not do and then look at what is best for you and how to do it. Your family may be able to handle you being active Army; mine could not so the National Guard was my choice. Just remember if it is something that you want you can still do it even if you are a mother.