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Old 08-25-2008, 07:53 AM
 
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Since family members are part of the military, too, I thought it'd be nice to hear some of their memorable stories. I'd like to start with this one from my first tour in Germany. I had friends assigned to another base across town. They have three wonderful kids (all grown into wonderful adults now...) On one of the first few days their youngest daughter was in the DoDDS elementary school, the teacher asked everyone in the class to write down the first thing that came to mind when she read from a list of words. When the teacher named the large city where the school was, their daughter wrote down "ladies". When the teacher asked her why she wrote "ladies" Their daughter said "That's the first thing you see when you pass the sign with the city name on it". She had no idea that they were "ladies of the evening" looking for customers while standing along the roadway...
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Old 08-28-2008, 09:49 PM
 
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I played hooky the first day of school when my son joined the service. I wanted to go to the enlistment center and see him take his oath of office and spend as much time as possible with him (there was a lot of down time between tests) before he boarded the plane for boot camp. The next few days I was busy at school getting kids into the right classes and schedules finalized. I was able to keep physically and mentally busy so I did not have an opportunity to be lonesome for him.

As soon as the novelty of a new school year wore off, this old house seemed very empty. I'll just go sit on his bed for a few minutes and get this out of my system thought I. Not! Twenty minutes later when I finally got the bedroom door open and discovered all the dirty clothes behind it, I didn't miss him nearly as much. And I missed him even less by the end of the weekend, some 15 loads of laundry later! What was he thinking, that they were going to march themselves down to the basement and hop into the washer on their own?

His dresser sits on legs about three inches high. Apparently it never occurred to him that there might be a sock monster living beneath it, and that maybe he should check once in a while for his misssing socks instead of going and buying more. I'll bet I found three dozen pairs of socks that had only been worn once! Geesh!

By the time he graduated from boot camp and came home, his entire bedroom had been cleaned, sorted, bubble wrapped, packed in boxes and clearly labeled! He took one look and said forlornly, "You're throwing me out!?!" No, I reassured him, I wasn't losing a son, I was gaining a sewing room. Now I am waiting in great anticipation for the second one to follow in his brother's footsteps so I can annex his room, too!
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Old 08-31-2008, 05:07 PM
RHB
 
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As a new navy wife I washed my hubby's uniforms when he came in from sea. After they came out of the dryer they still had these creases in them, from the way he folded them in the sea bag. I ironed, and ironed and ironed. I was so proud of myself for getting all those creases out, I proudly showed him when he came home....that's when I learned about military creases.

All was well though...for the next 20 years, I never did his uniforms again
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Old 09-01-2008, 08:08 PM
 
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Most memerable to date....When my husband returned from a 15 month deployment. While he was home for R&R for our daughters birth, we found out that he was extended 2 days after it broke on the news. The last time he held her was at the airport when she was a week old (to the day). When he came home our son was looking for his Daddy. I got our son to stand up on the wooden seats and look out to see if he see Daddy while he was holding his sign that he made for him. It was the longest 5 min of my life. My husband found us with no problems and our son was the happiest little boy ever. It was one of those moments that I would not trade for the world.
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Old 10-02-2008, 07:59 AM
 
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When my son was born in the hospital they asked my husband to lie on the bed with his shirt off and put my son skin to skin with my husband and put a blanket over them and said human body warmth is the best for the baby as well as a great chance for father and son to bond..so my son slept on his chest.

When my son was about 2 1/2 my husband was coming back from a 6 month deployment and we had gone out on a boat ride to watch the sub pull into the harbor that morning, then walked over to the pier. It was a long morning and he was getting tired and cranky and unruly making me flustered on the pier. Standing there praying my husband hurry up and get off the ship , he finally comes off, my son puts his arms out to his daddy, and not 2 seconds later is fast asleep on his chest. I hadn't realized how much that helped them bond til that moment.
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Old 10-02-2008, 08:01 AM
 
17 posts, read 129,567 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RHB View Post
As a new navy wife I washed my hubby's uniforms when he came in from sea. After they came out of the dryer they still had these creases in them, from the way he folded them in the sea bag. I ironed, and ironed and ironed. I was so proud of myself for getting all those creases out, I proudly showed him when he came home....that's when I learned about military creases.

All was well though...for the next 20 years, I never did his uniforms again
That is a good one! It's nice to look back and be able to laugh about those things.
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Old 10-02-2008, 04:20 PM
RHB
 
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That story reminds me of....

When my eldest was 2 we were transferring. Hubby went ahead, son and I stayed behind to pack up the house. All was fine, they took the kitchens stuff, his toys, not a problem with this child....until....they started packing up his fathers stuff...then he started kicking the movers to put it back.....
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Old 10-04-2008, 09:18 PM
 
Location: Norfolk, Va (unfortunately)
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Hehe, when I was in Bootcamp, we had to roll out neckerchiffs for our dress whites as graduation neared. I rolled it how they'd shown us, and then I took my needle and black thread out of my sewing kit issued to us, and sewed it in place, you know, so it would stay all nice an rolled up. Then I noticed I was the only one who did it that way. I asked my RDC's if I'd done it correctly, and that's when I found out that I was supposed to tie the thread around the middle instead of sewing it. And that I'm the only recruit they'd ever seen do that...
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Old 10-29-2008, 05:46 PM
RHB
 
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Something I miss, now that hubby retired, is spending the holiday's with servicemembers. We always had a house full, made things for those who had duty...I really liked those holidays.

Why am I posting that here...while thinking about the upcomming holidays, and how service members so enjoyed a homecooked meal, reminded me of one of my new wife recipes....

My hubby was one of 2 married men in his division of 14. So on weekends the guys would come to my house to get away, and have some homemade food. Well, we all liked fish. We all liked chinese. I found a recipe for sweet and sour fish and thought that would be great (keep in mind, I was young then.) I served myself last, and the others were eating when I took my first bite. I mentioned that I had hot dogs in the freezer if anyone was interested....all 5 of them said "yes, please" together. It still makes me smile had I not offered they would have choked down that fish, as not to hurt my feelings.
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Old 10-29-2008, 06:11 PM
 
4,339 posts, read 5,766,365 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RHB View Post
Something I miss, now that hubby retired, is spending the holiday's with servicemembers. We always had a house full, made things for those who had duty...I really liked those holidays.

Why am I posting that here...while thinking about the upcomming holidays, and how service members so enjoyed a homecooked meal, reminded me of one of my new wife recipes....

My hubby was one of 2 married men in his division of 14. So on weekends the guys would come to my house to get away, and have some homemade food. Well, we all liked fish. We all liked chinese. I found a recipe for sweet and sour fish and thought that would be great (keep in mind, I was young then.) I served myself last, and the others were eating when I took my first bite. I mentioned that I had hot dogs in the freezer if anyone was interested....all 5 of them said "yes, please" together. It still makes me smile had I not offered they would have choked down that fish, as not to hurt my feelings.
I have to say that is something that I enjoy also. Especially if we and they are not able to spend the holidays with their family. After all, the military is like a big family especially if they work together day in, day out and depend on each other to help keep everyone safe.
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