Obviously military life is very different from civilian life. Aside from moving around every few years, and sometimes not seeing a parent for a long time, there are other things that growing up in the military can do to a person.
I was born in a military family, but I was only about 7 when my father retired and we finally settled in one state for the rest of my life so far. My older sister was born into it, and was about 15 when my father retired. We often have talks about how the military affected us and how it still affects us to this day.
Many military parents encourage their children to join the military as well. Others highly discourage it. My father loved his time in the military, but always made sure to tell my sisters and me the bad times, more than he told us the good times. That is because you spend every day wondering if that person is going to be okay, when you will see them again and if they will be different because of the things they have seen. Every day is a mystery, and you just have to hope everything will go well.
One big thing that every military family knows is that you have a big family. I don't mean that every military family has four kids like my family did. But I had a lot of aunts and uncles that weren't actually related to me. And a lot of people have this in their lives even if they weren't in a military family. But with military it is a different kind of family. I am so thankful to have had the family I had, and for the ones I still talk to today. And I miss them, but you get used to that in the military, too.
Growing up in the military, you get this mindset that everyone is going to leave at some point, and this probably sticks with you the longest. It is no secret that military families move a lot. In my 7 years as a military kid, we lived in at least four different places, only two of which I was old enough to remember. But just because I had just gotten somewhere and I wasn't leaving for at least a few years, didn't mean that the new friends I was making were going to be there for much longer. You have to learn to make friends easily, because otherwise you will be alone. But you also have to remember that those friends might leave soon, so you can't get too attached.
This is what my sister and I have talked about the most. 14 years after leaving the military life, I still have issues connecting with people and accepting that they will probably be in my life for a long time. People still move, and you might lose contact with a lot of people you become close with. However, it is really hard to let go of the idea that everyone in life is only there for a little bit.
Punishments are different for military kids, too. Military kids just know if they do something bad, they get some sort of boot camp/basic training punishment, like push-ups or scrubbing baseboards. Many military kids have to have exceptionally clean rooms (mine was never super clean), and make their bed every morning. I never really made my bed in the morning because I don't think I was really old enough to be forced to do it while my dad was still in the military.
I am thankful for the experiences I had growing up, and the family that I made that I still have contact with. But the military affects every child differently, and in many cases the things they grow up dealing with, will always stick with them. The good and the bad.
