Life as an Army Wife

Army wife

I met my husband in 2011 working in a pet shop in Wales. I had recently just come out of a 4 year controlling and abusing relationship so any attention given to me felt amazing, after a month of working there my husband asked me out on a date which I accepted, things were going great.

One day he sat me down and told me he was joining the army, my jaw dropped and everything just went though my mind, him going away? When would I ever see him? Him going to fight? I was really upset but with him growing up as a military child ( his dad, brothers, uncles, cousins and grandads were all in the army and navy) I knew that it was he wanted so I had to support him.

He told me stories of his travels and where he has lived and it made me feel better about it knowing if we stayed together I could experience all that with him. A couple of months later  he started his training and completed it beginning of 2013. It was hard not seeing him for 3-4 months at a go and we argued a lot but we still pulled through it.

In June 2013 he came home for a weekend and that night he got on one knee and proposed to me. I was in total shock and so happy! We still worked through him being away and planning a wedding while he was away, a date was set and everything was booked and sorted and in December that year we had a big fairytale wedding, it was one of the best days of my life.

In February 2014 just two months after being married,

Phil came home and told me he was getting a posting to Germany, my heart sank, I had just been promoted to assistant manager and loved my job, I would have to leave my family, friends, my job to move to Germany with him. Saying goodbye to all that crushed me but the day I said I do I knew what my life would be like married to a soldier.

We moved to Germany together, saying goodbye was so hard but a new adventure awaited. 

We are currently still living in Germany, we have explored and made wonderful friends, we have our ups and downs but we work through it, and we have two beautiful boys. There are so many things that are hard living away and living in this lifestyle, close friends come and go, but you always make new ones and stay in touch with others. Not having family around to help is hard, and the children not knowing any family members is so upsetting. The hardest part about being an army wife is when your husband has to go away on exercise or deployment and the timescale they are away could vary from 1 month to 9 months and not being able to talk to them apart from the rare occasion while they are away.

My youngest doesn’t understand daddy going away but my eldest cries for days until he just gets used to daddy not being around, as a mum it breaks you, by the time my eldest was 1 years old my husband had seen him for only 4 months and missed him crawling, walking, sitting up. All the things we were meant to experience together he missed. It is hard living the life as an army wife, you have to be strong and deal with everything yourself and be a single parent most of the time which is very hard especially with no family around to help in those days that you need a break, but the support from the army and other family’s and wives is amazing and there are a lot of groups you can attend to keep you busy which makes the time they are away go faster. I wouldn’t change any of it for anything, even with the ups and downs and being alone but It’s made me a stronger and independent person and my family are only a phone call or video call away if I need anything. I can’t wait to travel and explore the world and make more memories with my amazing family.