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I started my military life as a 17-year old Army wife and was one for many years until my husband decided to get out of the military and we were a civilian family once again. That lasted a few years and then he decided to go back into the military, but this time in the Navy Reserves and I became a Navy wife. When we divorced after 20 years of marriage and 4 kids, he went his way applying to the Army’s OCS, was accepted (even at his advanced age – because you know being 40 is advanced in today’s military) and re-entered the fulltime Army life. I, on the other hand, joined the Tennessee State Guard and met my future (now) husband who is in the Army Reserves and I again became an Army wife. A role I am tremendously proud of.
But, now I am entering a new phase of my military resume, per se. My youngest child and only son, Connor, will be starting his freshman year at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga and will be entering the National Guard’s Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP). Now I will add “National Guard Mom” to my military experiences. I am confident upon graduation when my son receives his commission as a 2nd lieutenant that he will choose the path of Active Army versus the National Guard. He is very excited and I am extrememly proud of him.
My son is continuing the legacy of military service started with his grandfather, a 20 year Air Force veteran, and his own father who will proudly be the one swearing him in. I have begun to think of the legacy that I, as a mother, wife, and friend will leave. While the entries on my ‘resume’ are commendable, what will be my legacy? Have you thought of yours?
No legacy is so rich as honesty ~ William Shakespeare