Living the Military Life

Being in the military is much different than being a "civilian." Civilians can give up their jobs anytime they want to. Civilians get to choose when they want to move and where they want to go. Civilians get to take their their family with them when they choose to take a job far from home. Military people get none of these choices.

I am married to the military. My husband is a Senior Airman in the United States Air Force. We live on a small military base in Minot, North Dakota. We are 1000 miles from home and rarely see our family. Yet we are incredibly blessed. We are together everyday. We are stateside, and have, to date, never been forced apart for any length of time. My husband was in the delivery room with me the day our son was born.

Even still, we have gone through many things that most civilians don't have to go through. Most civilians aren't asked to get out of their car at 10:00 pm so someone can search it before they go home. I've gone through this in -10 degree weather with a ten month old baby asleep in the backseat. Most civilians have never received a ticket for a hole in their yard that a ground squirrel dug either. Yet there was a time when all four families in my building got a ticket for just that. I've also had several friends who have been pulled over for going 1 mile per hour over the speed limit. It happens in the civilian world, too, but not nearly as often.

Most civilians get paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week. Often my husband works 5 or 6 days in a row, putting in 12 hour shifts. This will continue for several weeks at a time. His pay stays the same. Most civilians get a lunch break. There are times when my husband gets only 1 15 minute break during a 12 hour shift. And my husband works what is supposed to be a Monday-Friday 7:00-4:00 job. Imagine what its like for the guys who have to sleep in the missile field.

Now I'm not in any way writing this article to bash the military. I love my military life very much. I just don't think that most people know what it's really like. They think it's all so easy and that we get paid all of this money and get all of this free stuff. But that's not really what it's like at all. Yes, our medical benefits are excellent. Most treatments are free, or very affordable. We can also apply to live in base housing, or choose the housing allowance and live off base.

However, base housing isn't always as nice as some people expect. We live in a small three bedroom fourplex on base. The bedrooms are all small, the closets are tiny and the bathroom has no counter space at all, unless you count the six inches or so around the sink. The house doesn't include air conditioning or a dishwasher, either. And supposedly, Air Force has it best out of all the branches.

If you choose to live off base, you receive a set amount of money per month, depending on your rank. At our base, for my husband's rank, his housing allowance would be about $600 per month. If we wanted to move off base, we would move 13 miles or more depending on which town we chose. We would be paying at least $500 a month for rent for a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment. We would also have to pay for utilities. Not to mention the extra gas and car maintenance. We would obviously go over our $600 per month allowance.

People also seem to think we get a lot of stuff cheaper than everyone else because we don't pay taxes. It's true that we don't pay taxes when we shop on base, but many things cost more at the Base Exchange than they do at Wal-Mart or KMart anyway. You aren't saving any money by skipping the tax, if you are paying a higher price to start with! We do save money by shopping at the commissary on base. However, we are charged a 5% maintenance fee, so it's almost as if we are paying tax anyway.

I think people need to look at every angle before generalizing or jumping to conclusions. I do love being part of the military way of life, but it isn't as easy as many people think. We are not in it for the money. We are in it because it's something that my husband loves. It's easier to fall asleep at night when you know and trust the people who are out there fighting for you.