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Celebrating Special Holidays Solo

Ever since my husband and I were dating it was difficult to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries together (yayyy long distance). My birthday, except for the one right when we met, has always fallen on a weekday. And the one after we were married? He was in the field for a training exercise (although he was able to get away for about an hour where I saw him at Taco Bell), I’m excited we get to spend this year’s together, but next year? Very unlikely as we just learned he’ll probably be off at a training again. And our anniversary? Well this year we had deployment, so what’s a girl to do?

Me with my "Flat James" as I like to call him, which I got made so James could be at his brother's wedding this year. This is on our one year anniversary. (Photo by Katie Longto)
Me with my “Flat James” as I like to call him on our one year anniversary. (Photo courtesy Jessica Hall)

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Living a Dual-Military Life

I met Julie at a last year and we hit it off! She and her husband are both Active Duty currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Today she’s sharing what her life is like.

After meeting Jessica at a baby shower for a friend, I started following her blog. I am honored to be able to share what it’s like to be more than a military spouse, and in this case, more than just a military service member!

Dual military spouses—this is the title both my husband and I have in this crazy Army life we live, and it definitely has its own set of challenges. Casey (my hubby) is an active duty Infantry Officer currently deployed to Afghanistan, and I, Julie, am an active duty Medical Service Corps Officer stationed at JBLM.

Julie and her husband Casey. Photo courtesy Julie.
Julie and her husband Casey. Photo courtesy Julie.

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On Same Sex Marriage and Spouses Clubs

Last month I was sad to hear that the Fort Bragg Officers’ Club denied membership to a spouse because she is married to a service member of the same sex. As a member of our Spouses’ Club, it really upset me because to me the club is really a place to build community and meet new people, make friends, support your local base. Being new to an area can be nervewracking, you don’t know where things are, you may not know many people, so a club like this is a great place to start making those connections and learning about your new base. So why deny someone that wants to be a part of that?

The whole situation needs some crisis communication help, but it seems that the reasoning behind the denial is that the spouse doesn’t have a Dependent ID, since even though “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is no longer in effect, gay and straight service members work in the same units alongside one another, DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) still is in effect, basically meaning same-sex married spouses are not able to have benefits, even something as simple as an ID card that gives access to base.

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Looking Forward to 2013

Apologies for no real posts lately but I took a few weeks off for the holidays, which was much needed. There were many days that consisted of living on the couch. We also got HBO and I got addicted to Game of Thrones, we watched the first 2 seasons in about 4 days. We also went on a lovely vacation to the Oregon Coast, saw friends, celebrated the holidays, and rang in the new year! Phew. Maybe not as lazy as it sounded?

Views of the Oregon Coast. Photo by Jessica Hall
Views of the Oregon Coast. Photo by Jessica Hall

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