Military Spouse Support

Where in Gainesville?

usairforcewife — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:59:58 +0000

If you are visiting Gainesville because your spouse is in the Malcolm Randall VA Hospital getting treatment, it can be hard to find your way around and to keep yourself busy. Here is a map I made of Gainesville including the VA hospital, recruiting office, Gainesville Fisher House, hotels, and places to eat. As long as you stay on Archer Road, you can find just about any kind of food you want! Click on the map and you’ll be redirected to Google Maps and the particular one I created.

Being A Military Spouse

usairforcewife — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:12:57 +0000

After getting back from seeing my husband in Texas, I realized there is much more to being a military spouse than I previously thought. We spouses serve right alongside our husbands and wives to keep our households running and give them our full and utter support. I really enjoyed the time I spent with him at BMT and here is a video that I posted on YouTube of my visit. I hope you enjoy it!

Air Force Basic Military Training

usairforcewife — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:51:57 +0000

My husband just graduated from Basic Military Training yesterday. It has been a difficult past two months and I am so happy to see him. He graduated as an honor grad and in the top 10 percent of his class. I am so proud of him. I put together this slideshow to show what AF BMT graduation is all about.

Air Force Graduation Basic Military Training

Preparing for homecoming

usairforcewife — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:58:37 +0000

Whether your spouse has been gone for a few months or over a year, homecoming is an exciting and difficult time. While we can’t wait for our loved ones to come home and be safe, it’s still an adjustment back to normal life. By the time he or she comes back we’ve already found our own way to manage and deal with their absence and live without them right next to us. So it’s important to prepare yourself and your spouse for their return. Here are a few suggestions:

*Make sure you can have a ‘date night’ to communicate and get back on the same page.

*Try to make it a weekly event to have a communication/date night to rekindle your relationship.

*Preparing for the next step in your lives, like getting ready for the next move, finishing school, starting a new job, etc.

*Keep children in the loop and make sure your kids understand what’s up next.

*Preparing for another deployment- you never know with the military and as soon as you’re both getting happy, you can find out he or she has to leave. As you know with the military, you have to roll with the punches.

*Use the base resources to help in case you need some help communicating since you’ve both probably changed.

*Be patient… in a way you two have grown apart so it will take a little patience for things to get back to the way they were.

Deployment: How to keep the kids busy.

usairforcewife — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:36:17 +0000

It’s hard enough trying to keep yourself busy and happy while your military spouse is gone, let alone trying to keep the little ones busy and happy. So here is a list of a few things to keep the children involved.

*Eat dinner together and have them help make dinner- Cooking with your children gives them a hands on activity while allowing you to communicate with the kids.

*Take them to the park- whether it be a park to play on the playground or to walk your dog, it’s important to spend as much time with your kids so they know they have someone to talk to about mom or dad is deployed

*Have them paint/draw mom or dad a picture and send it to them while they’re deployed

*Try taking them to a zoo or theme park- mixing up the activities that the kids don’t do often make them feel special.

*Encourage them to try a new sport or activity at school

****For any activity you do with your kids make sure to take lots of pictures to send to their deployed loved one!

Deployment: How to keep yourself entertained

usairforcewife — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:38:11 +0000

Before his or her deployment, you’re spending every day seeing, talking to, and holding your spouse. All of a sudden they’re gone and you don’t have someone else to worry about (unless you have kids). Of course you have work, maybe school or kids, but how can you keep yourself entertained? You figure working, friends, maybe taking care of kids, and school will keep you busy, but you still find yourself with down time you would normally be spending with your spouse. Things can get lonely, so here are a few tips/activities to keep yourself busy and happy while your spouse is away.

*Find a hobby- now that your spouse is away, it’s a good time to find something you enjoy doing for yourself. Whether it be walking your dog, putting together puzzles, blogging or what be it, find something for you!

*Work out- instead of feeling lonely and depressed at home on the couch, why not get a gym membership or even workout videos? Working out increases endorphins which give you a feeling of happiness. It helps fight depression by keeping your spirits up and also can boost your confidence.

*Go out with friends- Keeping yourself busy is important. Friends can be your shoulder to cry on and a way to keep your mind off missing your spouse.

*Write letters (or emails) to your spouse- keep yourself busy by updating your spouse on what’s going on and how you are doing. A lot of times, all they want is to hear about the real world and how you are doing. This can also be therapeutic in ways because it’s a way of getting out everything, all your feelings, hopes and frustrations.

*Find a support group- This isn’t for everyone, but if you’re feeling alone, it’s a good way to find and communicate with people who know what you’re going through. It can be online or maybe on base, but having people besides your friends and family to talk to can help give you perspective and keep you busy.

The big decision

usairforcewife — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:50:22 +0000

A decision to join the military isn’t always an expected one. It may come as a surprise to you or your family, but supporting and being proud of the decision your loved one has made is extremely important. All of a sudden your life will be changed because of this. There will be training, deployments, moves, and more that is now part of your life. It may seem intimidating, but it’s extremely important to show support for your military man or woman. No matter the branch of the service, you can bet that the toughest challenge at first will be learning to cope with the stress of your loved one being gone. This sacrifice is not only made by the person who decided to join, but by all of the people in his or her family. I found this link and have used this to help me and it has been a godsend. There are links to other helpful sites, you can choose your branch of service, your spouses branch etc. There is even a hotline number to call so you to get help. Go to:militaryonesource.com

I know when I first heard the news that my husband decided to join the Air Force I was extremely proud, and kind of anxious because I didn’t know what to expect. My dad was a Captain in the Air Force, so I had a better idea of how things work and operate in the Air Force, but his decision really amazed me. We got married in August, then less than a month later he was shipped off to basic training. He has only been gone three weeks now and I’m still managing, but this blog and having understanding friends and family has helped a ton. So far, my words of advice for anyone about to have a spouse go into any basic training is don’t expect to hear from your loved one often, if at all in the first few weeks (so far I’ve only gotten one phone call and that was to get his address) also WRITE WRITE WRITE… as hard as it is for us spouses, you can only imagine how it feels to be blocked off from a lot of the outside world. So write your spouse everyday, or as often as possible to keep them company and give them a taste of the outside world.

Hello spouses!

usairforcewife — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:41:15 +0000

Welcome to Military Spouse Support! This blog is meant for the purpose of supporting our military men and women and their families. This blog is meant to be an outlet of ideas and an online journal where everyone (not just spouses) can come to share experiences both locally in Gainesville and in cyber space. I hope you enjoy my posts and they generate discussion. Everyone needs support every once in a while! Thanks for reading! I will make at least one post a week, feel free to contact me with any questions and I’ll be happy to find the answer or show where to find good information.