tagged as
# personal
# quote
# a military wife
# military wife
# navy
# marines
# air force
# coast guard
# army
# navy wife
# army wife
# marine wife
# coast guard wife
# army wife
# love
# military spouse

The good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, “Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What’s wrong with the standard model?”
The Lord replied, “Have you seen the spec on this order?” She has to be completely independent, posses the qualities of both father and mother, be a perfect hostess to four or forty with an hour’s notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu. She must be willing to move to a new location ten times in seventeen years. And oh, yes, she must have six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head, “Six pairs of hands? no way.”
The Lord continued, “Don’t worry, we will make other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband’s achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say “I understand” when she doesn’t, and say “I love you” regardless.
“Lord,” said the angel, touching his arm gently, “Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish tomorrow.”
“I can’t stop now,” the Lord said, “I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave goodbye to her husband from a pier, a runway, or a depot, and understand why it’s important that he leave.”
The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked at it closely and sighed. “It looks fine, but it’s so soft.”
“She might look soft,” replied the Lord, “but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure.”
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her fingers across the cheek of the Lord’s creation. “There’s a leak,” She announced. “Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model.”
The Lord appeared offended at the angel’s lack of confidence. “What you see is not a leak,” he said. “It’s a tear.”
“A tear? What is it there for?” asked the angel.
The Lord replied, “It’s for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride, and dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear.”
“You are a genius!” exclaimed the angel. The Lord looked puzzled and replied. “I didn’t put it there.”

tagged as
# personal
# veterans day
# navy
# army
# marines
# coast guard
# air force
# military
# military spouse
# military family
# thank you

Happy Veteran’s Day to all the current and future vets out there!

Today, I will be thinking a lot about my Papabear. Even though I only spoke to him a few times in my whole life, he’s a big part of my heart and soul. I know how much it meant to him to have served. I know how proud of himself he was. To my US Navy Veteran father up in Heaven, thank you. I love you.

I want to thank my older half-brother for serving our country in the US Navy and even though he may be considered a civilian now, he still continues to serve us over in Iraq.

I want to thank my grandfather, God rest his soul, for serving his country in the US Navy so many years ago. Even though his time serving was cut short, he still played his part. Rest in peace, Pawpaw.

I want to thank my wonderful husband and best friend for his current service in the US Navy. He is my hero in so many ways and for so many reasons. I love you, Cheech. You’re my world. You make me so proud to be your wife. For so many reasons. I’m proud that I have such a thoughtful, caring and kind man at my side. You make me feel so much love, it’s incredible. I wish everyone in the world could feel what I feel for you. It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. All my love, monkeylove. Spaceships<3

I want to thank all my military spouse/family followers’ and friends’ husbands, wives, fiances, girlfriends, boyfriends, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters for making this country safe serving in all branches - US Navy, US Marines, US Army, US Coast Guard and US Air Force. You all make sacrifices that not every person can make. You give up home, family and love to go to your ultimate duty of fighting and protecting us all.

Lastly, I want to thank my military spouses/family followers and friends for sticking by your husbands, wives, fiances, boyfriends, girlfriends, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers for all that YOU do. For the warm meals, foot rubs, hugs, kisses, understanding, strength and love that you give so unselfishly. For the personal fights and battles that you have to go through each and everyday. We are the backbones of our serving men and women. It takes incredible people to do what we do without being asked. I tip my hat to you all. <3

I hope everyone has a blessed and peaceful day. Hug your service members today. And make sure that YOU are the ones to give them the smile they deserve today.

Love to you all,
-Renae

tagged as
# personal
# military
# military wife
# army
# navy
# marines
# air force

If you’re currently following me, please like this post.
I’m planning to make a lot of revisions to my tumblr theme and I want to add a page with a list of all you wonderful ladies!

It sounds silly and incredibly lazy of me to ask you to do this, but it’s easier for you guys to like this as opposed to me going through ALL my following and followers trying to find you. :)

With that being said, the main reason why I’m doing this is so I have a list of you guys so I can quickly find your blogs and catch up with you. I really wish Tumblr has a grouping mechanism so we can filter through posts by specific people on our dash, but alas it does not. So, time to go about this the old fashioned way. :)

It’d REEEEEALLY helpful if you did this for me!

Love you all and keep strong, <3

tagged as
# personal
# military
# military life
# military wife
# navy wife
# navy
# marines
# army
# air force
# government shut down
# freeze pay
# wtf

I’m not going to reblog or quote directly. No naming names or bashing. I’m going to try to be as rational as I can. I’m going to try to understand. But, I do have to express some feelings in some the clatter I’ve seen going around about this pay freeze for the military.

Okay. For starters, let’s make sure we all know - I am a military wife. I, myself, am nothing to the government. However, to my husband, I am the support and his rock that keeps him going. By my keeping strong, that keeps him strong to help serve and protect this country. In turn, not only am I married to a man, I am married to the government - the part of the government that protects and dies for this country daily. Ask any military wife (or almost any grounded SO for that matter) - we may not be anything to government directly, but to the men that love us, we are everything. (And I am 100% certain when I say this about my fella. <3)

Now here’s something I’ve seen on here (the internet, Tumblr, Facebook) from men and women alike - be they complete civilians in a complete civilian lifestyle who really don’t have a grasp on what being in the military means, or even girlfriends of the military: they see nothing wrong with what is happening and what the potential outcome COULD be. And as the hours of this day draw to a close, the worst case scenario is becoming a reality. “Oooh! My boyfran is gonna be forced to go on leave and come home to me! What’s so bad about that?” Or, “They’re not NOT getting paid. They’ll get paid in a few days.” Or, my favorite, “They have bills? So what. Just ask your landlords, your water company, your credit card company to put an extension on your bills until they get paid.”

Let’s get one thing straight here: if the government shuts down, service men and women will not be forced to go on leave. They will not be coming home for a vacation. This will NOT be a “furlough”. They will be expected to work, be it on the base they’re at, in the line of fire in Afghanistan and Iraq, or on a ship in the middle of the sea. These men and women will still fight and die every day, without pay for however long it takes to resolves these issues. They will fight, kill and die - they will do their jobs, away from home, away from their families - while their families are at home struggling to put food on the table, to pay their bills, to feed their babies. These service men and women are doing their jobs, beating themselves up because they’ll have no clue if their partners are at home without food and electricity. But, alas, they are expected to carry on as if nothing is wrong. And the spouses? They’re at home trying to figure out how to pay their rent, feed themselves or their children. Both ends of the spectrum get the shit end of the stick, in my opinion.

Okay, yeah. Sure. They’ll still technically be getting paid. That’s a relief(?). The kicker here is, they won’t be receiving their paychecks. They’ll be racking up pay that they will not be able to access until ALL of these issues are resolved. Which could take days, weeks or even months. If not longer. So, what are these military families suppose to do if the government shuts down and it takes six months to resolve? You’ve got be out of your mind if you think landlords, credit card companies, and utility companies are going to give an indefinite extension. They require your money to operate. If you can’t pay, you don’t receive services. And there is no fault in that. Sure, a lot of companies might give you a week or two extension - but, that’s all they can afford. That being said, take into consideration just HOW many military families there are. If 80% of those families ask for extensions - how well do you think that will play out? Do you think these companies will be able to afford extensions for ALL of these families? The answer is definitely not. And of that, I am certain.

“But, these men and women CHOSE this job. They shouldn’t bitch. People lose their jobs daily, this happens all the time. You shouldn’t bitch about being paid to be a hero.” This is the most AUDACIOUS thing I’ve ever read in my entire life. And let’s start with ONE simple word: JOB. If you took third-grade Spelling, you should know what this word means. However, let’s refresh: The definition of JOB,

“a piece of work, especially a specific task done as part of the routine of one’s occupation or for an agreed price.”

For. An. Agreed. Price. Plain and simple English. You are to receive payment in exchange for work. No matter what the title is, no matter what your duties include, no matter the reason. You get paid. Yes, joining the military is a very ADMIRABLE thing to do. It has a lot of risks. Not everyone can do it. But, do you think our military would be as massive and bountiful as it is if there weren’t some sort of payout or perk? No.

It’s not like these people can just quit and change jobs every other day like you or I. They signed a contract that says, “You work; we pay. No way out.” In this day and age, a two-person household cannot survive on one paycheck alone. So, if  there is a freeze on their pay, how are they and their families to survive? No, it’s not the end of the world. Yes, it could be worse. But, at the same time - doesn’t the law state that employees are to be paid within a reasonable amount of time? What makes the military any different? And what about a father who is on deployment and has a wife, two kids and a baby on the way back home? Mommy can’t work because she’s on maternity. How are these babies to be fed? How is Mommy going to keep the lights on? So, maybe, it IS “the end of the world” to a family who lives in a country where we are accustomed to homes and food every day. Maybe it IS pretty bad for a family whose Mommy or Daddy is fighting for the rights and privileges to have these comforts and they are denied them.

These men and women chose this job for several reasons, and each person has an array of different reasons. All them personal to each specific person. Be it honor, duty, job security, opportunities, skills… whatever. There are many reasons for it. But fact is fact, these men and women are doing something dangerous. Something that not every average Joe like you or I could do. This job requires you to press yourself to your limit and BEYOND. Put your life in danger and bring a whole new set of risks and sacrifices that you will never see working at McDonald’s. And it really hurts me that people (and not just the government) take that aspect for granted. Yes, it’s a choice - but, again, a choice that we don’t have the balls to do. And you bet your sweet penny if you won’t do it for pay, you’re not going to do it for free. So why should these men and women and their families be expected and be OKAY with doing it for free? Why should these people be put on the back burner because it’s convenient? Especially when they’re the ones fighting to keep your home safe. To keep your family safe. To keep your country free and comfortable and distinguish us from the third world countries. Sure, you keep your front door safe and ward off any immediate intruders, and to that, I thank you. However, what about the bigger baddies out there? What about the religious attacks and the world wars? Who protects this country? That’s okay… you can think about it.

I don’t know. I don’t want to sound so hurt, inflamed, or angry… but it’s hard not to be. One of the main things that helps keep this country safe and what it is (so you all can go on working at McDonald’s, partying every weekend, cheating on your partners, so you can simply walk down the street without fear of a bomb dropping on your head) is being put on the back burner because it’s convenient. Yes, I get there’s a law that says Congress-people cannot go without pay. I understand that. But, that doesn’t seem fair. At all. What do they risk? They sit around a bitch all day about OUR rights, OUR bodies, OUR education, OUR health benefits. They pass papers around and fill their pockets. While… halfway across the world; in the deserts, seas and caves of this great planet, men and women are dying for this GREAT process.

…and what does that get them?

tagged as
# freeze pay
# government shut down
# military
# navy
# marines
# air force
# army

Here is a list of federally funded jobs affected or unaffected, according to CNN: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/04/politics/interactive.govt.shutdown.list/index.html?hpt=T2#

Top of the list that SHOULD NOT be there -

• Military (Unclear/mixed) -
  Troops including those fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq will not be paid on time. Troops will continue to earn money but will receive no paychecks.
  
  
• IRS (Closed/ceased)
  No IRS processing of paper tax returns or refunds.
  
  
• Medicaid (Unclear/mixed)
  Processing of disability applications could be delayed.
  
• Visas (Closed/ceased)
  
  
• Passports (Unclear/mixed)
  Passport processing will be slower because of fewer workers. Regular passports will not be issued, but emergency passports will be issued.
  
  
• National Institutes of Health.
  No new clinical trials; won’t accept new patients.

What won’t be affected? The pockets of the President and Congress.