Stateside vs. Overseas

My family and I have loved Europe, don't really want to go much anywhere else though. I enjoyed Korea for the year I was there, but I am not looking to go back necessarily. No real desire for any of the Asia assignments at this point in my life.

The benefit I believe is in expanding your horizons and learning about other cultures. My oldest daughter is a high school senior and spent a total of 5 years in Germany and loved it. She also has done really well in German language class! I believe one of the reasons we as a country have more than our share of narrow minded people, many of them prejudiced, is that they do not leave their own county where they were born and raised. Traveling, with an open mind, is a good way to help counter that issue.

I've never been to Germany but I know several soldier who ETS'd and decided to go live there permanently  I'm assuming it's pretty nice.

Overseas. My best assignments were overseas. I grew up as a Navy brat and had already seen over half the US. Had I wanted to be stationed stateside, I would've gone Reserve or Guard. After all, I can hop in my vehicle and drive across the US. What's the excitement of getting a stateside assignment when you can see the world? As to benefits to family, well, there's travel, experiencing new cultures, making friends who speak different languages, eating authentic cuisine (such as Wienerschnitzel from Austria, Pizza from Italy, and Bulgoki from South Korea). Military families tend to be more accepting of different races and groups of people. We think nothing of seeing mixed marriages and mixed race families, while you can still go to some places in the US and hear racist remarks and comments against those who "lower themselves" by marrying outside their race. Military brats are more adaptable because they experience other locations. It's also not uncommon for military folks to become adept at picking up various accents easily as well. Oh, if you have kids overseas, just think of what they can contribute to their history lessons stateside when their teachers discuss geography and foreign language? When the teacher is talking about the battlefields of Normandy, or the Diary of Anne Frank, and your kid brings in photos of those very places--just think how cool that would be.