In my 20 years of life, I've never imagined I'd end up being a military girlfriend to a wonderful man. I mean, some would've predicted it would happened eventually because the military runs in my family, but I in my right mind didn't expect it...AT ALL! Sometimes, I have people ask me how I do it, how do I manage to have a perfect long-distance relationship with the man I love; or while some compliment on how easy I make it look to have this long-distance relationship. Well let me just say, it's not "easy-peasy" or is a "perfect" relationship. It's rough. Having a long-distance relationship with a military man is rough, complicated and challenging.

By now, many of you are probably wondering and asking to yourself "how does this girl know anything about long-distance relationships with a military man?" To answer all of your questions, I'll just start off with my own "sugar-coated" story of how I ended up to being an Air Force Girlfriend. Going back to a couple years ago, I met this wonderful boy, who soon grew up to be a wonderful man. Him and I grew to be best friends. He has always been there for me and with me through everything. At the end of our junior year of high school, I finally said yes to go out with him after many requests of him asking me. From that day-on, we've been solid ever since.

It wasn't until about a year and a half later when everything just started to fall into place. He and I went to an air show, exploring and watching the different planes and stunt shows that were there. There were many military set-ups here at this air show, ranging from The National Guard to the United States Air Force - you name the branch, they were there. As the afternoon went on and after we returned home, I vividly remember him telling me that he was thinking about enlisting into the Air Force. Now, many of you are wondering how I handled it - let's just say it wasn't very good. I cried. I had an anxiety attack sitting on a living room chair while he held me. I cried for about 20 minutes, and these 20 minutes felt like forever. As I sat here in this chair with him holding me, everything started to make sense in my mind - him getting Air Force pamphlets and talking to the recruiters that were there at the air show. I thought to myself "why didn't I see this coming?" To this very day, I still ask myself this.

About a few months before he went and started seeing an Air Force recruiter, everything got pushed back and put on hold. My boyfriend had an accident, and it wasn't just like any normal accident where the person just got up and walked away from the entire scene. He got up early one morning, made a quick run, and didn't make it home. In short, he ended up at the bottom of a hill in an SUV that was turned upside-down on the roof. He flipped the car 6 times and ended up with only 18 stapes in his head, a few scratches here and there, and no broken bones or other serious injuries. This day will always haunt me no matter what would've happened. I was a nervous wreck that day, so nervous that I wouldn't even touch my own boyfriend or even hold his hand because I was afraid I was going to break him or hurt him more than what he was already.

A few days after the accident, a thought came into my mind. I thought to myself "maybe he won't enlist now because of all of this happening." I've always felt guilty and selfish for thinking this way. I've always felt like him enlisting into the Air Force was going to make me feel like I was going to lose him, again.

Fast forwarding to January of 2018, after many months of lost paperwork, frustration, and going back and forth to the MEPS station, he finally did it. He finally swore in for the first out of two times into the United States Air Force. After this day, it was a rollercoaster of events. Having about 2 months left with him before he left for good, we tried to make it the best we could to do things we wanted to do together before he left to serve his country for the next 6 years. We did trampoline parks, ice cream dates, movie dates - you name it, we did it. We wanted to do as much as we possibly could together before he left for basic training.

On April 10, 2018, this was the day, the day I've been dreading for 6 months. Saying goodbye to my best friend wasn't easy. I didn't want to let go of him. I dreaded the thought of someone actually having to pry me away from him because I didn't want to let him go. Watching him swear in, getting last minute pictures (that I cherished for the next 7.5 weeks) and running and jumping into a van that drove him to the airport was sad, even though the woman yelling at everyone to get into the van and not being able to hug and kiss him goodbye made me quite angry.

As for the many things military girlfriends or spouses dread, the last phone call is the worst, or as it were for me. I was so distraught about receiving this phone call from my boyfriend that I told him "I was going to be asleep" just so he could leave a voicemail that I replayed over and over again. Hearing him saying "I made it to Lackland, I love you and I'll talk to you soon...I love you, bye" made my heart feel like it was crumbling into pieces. Knowing this phone call was going to be the last bit of communication from your significant other is awful, but I promise you, it will get better with time.

April 10, 2018Hannah Rossman

After he left, the 7.5 weeks flew by, even though some days felt like forever and the weeks were slow moving. I went to my mailbox everyday looking to see if there were any letters sent from him. Some days it felt like Christmas because there would be one, two, or even three letters in a single-day, while some days there weren't any. I wrote to him everyday, telling him about my day and the daily gossips that happened recently...while he wrote me about his day that consisted of being gassed in a gas chamber and getting screamed at by MTIs. Even though many sees writing letters back and forth as "romantic," in all honesty, this type of communication chain sucked. It felt like communicating with each other took forever. But I promise you, it will get better.

Before I knew it, the excruciating 7.5 weeks was done and over with and it was time to fly down to San Antonio, Texas to Lackland Air Force Base to watch my boyfriend graduate into a U.S. Airman. From the 5 days I was in Texas, it was the best experience to be apart of. From seeing him for the first time while running in the "Airman's Run" to walking out into formation to receive his Airman's Coin and chanting the "Airman's Creed," it was amazing! As I am a person who loves photography, I was capturing the entire trip through a camera lens. The best part for me was looking through my camera and seeing him looking up at me. This photo will always be one of my favorites! As many military families look forward to certain moments when reuniting with their loved one, the moment I was so excited for was tapping him out of formation. When I went to hug him for the first time in almost 2 months, it was the best feeling ever! He started tearing up and was smiling so brightly when I hugged him not only because he was actually able to hug someone without being screamed at by an MTI, but simply because he was happy to be looking at familiar faces.

May 28, 2018Hannah Rossman

May 28,2018Hannah Rossman

During the rest of his graduation weekend, it was amazing to see my boyfriend in his dress blues being so handsome and all. Watching him graduate and become a United States Airman, officially, made me feel so grateful and so proud. Even though at the beginning of this journey I was very against him enlisting, I changed from simply seeing him and his accomplishments being recognized. This made me proud, proud to be the girlfriend of a United States Airman.

A week after leaving San Antonio and flying back home to Pennsylvania, everything started to go back to normal. The good morning and goodnight text messages continued, we talk on a regular basis and Skype once every week (for now anyways). Back in June, I found out he was ordered to be stationed in Japan. To be honest, I was heartbroken. I felt like it was going to be the end of the world having him being halfway across the world, thousands of miles away. I kept thinking to myself "how are we going to do this, how are we going to be able to cope with more distance between our relationship?" My answer - we have to simply get through it, together.

May 29,2018Hannah Rossman

Simply, my message for those going though the same struggles as what I go through on a daily basis is - having a long-distance relationship with a military man is hard. Having a long-distance relationship is not easy or simple as some sees it as. Even though you may be feeling down or feeling like you can't deal with the distance, it will change, and it will get better. It won't happen in an instant, but with faith and time it will get better and it will get easier. I've been at this for 6 months now and I'm still learning everyday how to get used to our long-distance relationship. I'm still learning how to cope with distance and how to make the time apart better.

To the military girlfriends - never give up on love. The military may separate love into a long-distance relationship for however long they want, but the military will never separate the love two people have for each other. It will be rough at first, but will be worth it in the end.