A Hooah Kinda' Love- Diving in Head First

This week has been somewhat slow-going and I’ve struggled to come up with something of relevance to chit chat about--until this morning.

As I was refilling my Bubba in the break room, a co-worker told me she thought about me the other day because her step daughter just got engaged to a Marine.

***I feel that I must clarify that LT. Hubs is not a Marine. He’s in the Army, but most people don’t understand the difference and tend to lump it all together.  I’ve found it’s easiest to use the analogy that the Army and Marines are like two completely different fraternities. They’re both part of the same military system but they are separate brotherhoods and there’s a healthy competition between the two. Anyways, if you happen to find yourself in a conversation with a soldier or Marine, it’s good to know because if you get them confused they will correct you. Just don’t mix up your Hooahs with your Oorahs.

--but back to the break room conversation.  My friend told me that the Marine is going to be stationed in Japan for a year after the wedding.  I asked if her step daughter would be going along. She said no, she would stay in the states and complete school. She’s only 18.

I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows at this, exclaiming “Oh, wow! She’s a baby.”  Not that I’m opposed to the idea of “young love.” In fact my best friend and her husband have been together since they were 15, so I know it’s possible, but I also know it’s hard. It’s hard enough growing up and figuring yourself out, without the challenges of newly wed life. Toss being a military wife into the mix, with an ocean between you and your new husband, and what chance do these kids have?

If there’s one thing I will say about military life, it forces you to grow up fast. It teaches you the true meaning of sacrifice. You know what you’re getting yourself into when you say “I do” to a soldier (at least, you better) but nothing can ever really prepare you for what it means. I say this, and LT. Hubs hasn’t even been deployed (yet). But we have experienced distance, and it’s hard.

After we got married, LT. Hubs left for nearly six months of Engineer School in Fort Leonard Wood, MO. We had done the long distance thing many times between different colleges and military training, but it was the first time I had ever lived by myself, besides Winnie. It made for an interesting newly-wed experience. We really didn’t have much time to settle into life together before he had to leave. And even though we were lucky enough to see each other a few times, each goodbye was like breaking a bone that had just reset.  The goodbye is the hardest part.

I think military families are more aware than most people that nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. When you fall in love with someone in the armed forces, you have no choice but to dive in head first, knowing that deployment isn’t a question of if, but when. You go in knowing that there will be times when you are lonely as hell, that there will be really bad days. And it doesn’t matter if they are in another state, or another country, you have to learn to make do without one half of your heart. The times you have together you will never back.

In less than a week, LT. Hubs and I will be married one year. It isn’t a long time at all, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot. So as I sit here thinking about this teenage girl about to send her heart overseas, I found myself wondering if maybe a young, reckless love isn’t so bad in this case? Maybe it makes diving in head-first a little easier, a Hooah kinda' love.

Their chances might be pretty good after all.