Civilians get divorced at a higher rate than the military. Did military service strengthen or ruin your marriage?

You can absolutely say you got it right! Congrats!!

All sounds positive to me!! What a tradition of service!!

COL Lee Flemming - Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. Hubby's Dad enlisted in 1943 - at 16 years old... his father finally caved to the fussing and signed James in. He had tried 2 years earlier, at age 14, but the Marine recruiter caught him... I suppose his small size didn't help. Maybe if he'd been a big, strapping farm boy, but he was always a tiny, thin man. I doubt he went much more than 130, soaking wet. He desperately wanted to be a Marine; but they wouldn't take him. He was too short, too slender, etc. So he went in the Navy. Did his basic with them. Then signed up to be a Navy Corpsman. Since they sent him out with the Marines, he had to take Marine Basic, too. He was a tough little buzzard! Served from 1943 all the way thru the early 70s. Thru WWII, Korea, Viet Nam. He was a corpsman on Iwo Jima. Witnessed the first flag raising, and the second, staged one for the photo ops. He was also at Nagasaki shortly after the bomb drop, as medical relief. He had his pic taken in THE Barber Chair. It was a big deal with all the guys... No wonder he and so many others died of cancer, huh? He was an AMAZING MAN. And as to long military tradition... There was even a Casserly man who served with William the Conqueror in 1066...

A1C Lisa Casserly - now you have me smiling. Thanks for sharing your families great history!!

You're welcome... four of our five kids enlisted as well. It seems to be as natural as breathing, to enlist. And may this continue, its a proud tradition! I have two Army and two Air Force; The USAF are an intel analyst and a B-1B crew chief/maintainer. The Army ones are an Infantryman and a Combat Medic. The medic is the girl... and she's also our wounded warrior. She's an amazing girl. I shake my head, thinking of her. She doesn't QUIT. And she doesn't whine... there is so little woe-is-me... the occasional musing over why it happened, but never self-pity. I'm amazed by that... and quite honestly, I don't think I could have been as graceful under pressure as she is. She fights back; they initially told her they didn't know if she would walk again - certainly she would need a walker or cane, and she'd likely never be able to get rid of the limp... but she told them ... well, disrespectfully, BITE ME. And she got up. And she walks, without a cane or walker... and the only time you see a limp is if she's really overdone, or is super tired. Then they said she would never be able to bend her knee normally, so she'd never run again... and.. well, she does. She's competed TWICE in the Bataan Death March marathon in March at White Sands, NM. The whole 26.2 miles. On those so-damaged legs. Both times she finished between 7 hrs 20 minutes and 7 hrs 30 minutes. And she played in The Warrior Games in June, getting 3 gold medals and two bronze. Its odd to say, but she's my hero! A real inspiration to me.

That's true... getting out is a huge, huge lifestyle change. The structure of being enlisted can be helpful in that you always know where you stand. Civilian life is much more ... flexible? And with that flexibility, comes uncertainty, and that's hard to deal with.

lisa you are so right. we are used to a certain work environment and civilians (some anyway) just don't get it. i'd rather work with a group of retired or former military folks any day

I hear that. And there is this incredible sense of FAMILY with us. No matter what branch, they are our brothers and sisters. Yes, there is some harassment, hazing, whatever you want to call it. But its usually all in good fun.

OH!! I'm so sorry!! I feel like after you make it to 30 or 35 years, you should be home free, and that you should be able to work thru any problem. I am always amazed and horrified when divorce happens to people who were such a long term couple. I know a couple - won't name names - but they were married for nearly 50 years. And one day, she was planting flowers in the yard and he walked up behind her and smashed her over the head with a cast iron skillet. She saw him winding up to hit her again, and she ran up the street to the convenience store, where they locked him out and called 911. Later, she found out that he'd been cheating on her for years. If I had been asked to choose THE PERFECT COUPLE, I would have picked them! There were NO SIGNS of anything before he snapped.

So sorry to hear that.