This is what civilians need to know about military families

My mother was born into the military as her father was a officer in the Army. She would later meet and merry my father, an officer in the Air Force. Just as she probably though she was getting away from the military with my father retiring I went off and joined the Army. My mother was immersed in the military community more than most. However, as she told me, none of her experience helped her when my father went off to Vietnam. To try to explain her life and experiences to a civilian is at best incomprehensible. For me there is some joy in knowing she's interned at Bushnell National Cemetery as she would have probably preferred it that way.

I was a Marine Corps brat until i went in the service. During my entire military career i never got a Christmas in the USA. The article is spot on.., but doesn't cover half of it.