From moving all over the country to having grown up on military bases, having a parent in the military had its constant downfalls. But, I’ve become so comfortable with the military lifestyle that I crave it for the future. Unlike most kids, I could never get comfortable with anything really, because we were always forced to leave so soon.

My dad serving for 20 years was difficult but definitely had its perks from time to time. I was able to make lifelong friends, who understood what I was going through. In a way, I’ve looked for the military brat trait in all of my friendships. I found it easier when my friends and I could compare stories of our parent’s deployment or commissary horror stories that our mothers forced us to live through. After all, that was all I had known growing up.

I moved from coast to coast, and never really had a place to call home. The truth was that I had gained pieces of who I was in every state we had lived in. My memories, although spread across the country, were the one thing that constantly stayed with me. As I got older, I would always be distraught when then question “where are you from” came up. It got to the point where I would consider the place I had lived the longest as my “home”.

Deployments really were the most dreadful thing that could happen to my family. I was automatically forced to rely on one parent. In the blink of an eye, everything that I was used to was sucked away from me. I remember watching military homecomings and planning how my dad could surprise me. I never did get my fairytale homecoming, but my dad being home, in general, was a blessing in itself.

Personally, it was always frustrating for me seeing kids my age join the military as a scapegoat after high school. At a young age, I was taught that the military world was far from the video game world — there was no respawn button. The saying “you never know what you have till it’s gone,” was the living nightmare that many kids faced when their parents left for months. I learned to never take anything for granted because I never realized how at ease my entire family was when my dad was safe at home.

However, the lifestyle forces children to mature faster than others. Whether helping out around the house, tending to my needs, or doing little things to help my mom. Without the experience, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Most of my personality traits were adapted from the military lifestyle, and over the years I have learned how to cope with the new me.

My dad’s retirement was a relief for my entire family. We no longer had to suffer through the excruciating months of deployment and terrible skype calls. With the hard work and years of services comes the pride of having a military veteran in the family. Prevailing the hardships of military life was challenging, but I’m glad that it was the foundation of my childhood. Most of all, there is no doubt that my dad has become my lifelong hero.