Where exactly is the glamor?

Taking a break from talking about the shutdown, cause let's face it, we're all burned out. I've been watching Fox News since I woke up, going from hour 11 on the Countdown to the Shutdown to hour 5 now.

In my husband's short amount of time in the military, I've come across more than a few girls who seem to be of the mindset that being with a military man is a glamorous life. That it's all kind of "knight in shining armor" stuff. Um...when is that supposed to happen? Cause that would be nice! Let me just lay out the facts for you, and let's see if we can see where the glamorous part comes in:

• Most enlisted personnel make under $25,000 a year, I think teachers make more than that
• Months, sometimes years, of separation and oftentimes it's in a war zone (ps-war zones aren't exactly safe places)
• A whole big book of rules of dos and don'ts for military and their families
• The military always has to come first, and it will get most of the attention if it wants it
• The military dictates your schedule and plans (oh you had an anniversary dinner planned but he has to stay late? Guess who's winning that battle)
• The military dictates where you live (aw, your family is on the East Coast but the military needs someone with his MOS in Hawaii? Guess where you're going)
• Your service member will miss birthdays, anniversaries, births of children, holidays, funerals, etc. You're having your first baby but he's in Afghanistan? He's staying there, sorry

Have I gotten to the glamorous part yet? Did I miss something? Yeah, this isn't a fun life. It's not all sunshine and daisies, it's a very hard and lonely life. It's not that it's impossible to live, we're obviously living it, but it's not like we went into it thinking it was going to be so awesome and happy all the time. The happiness we have is because we have someone to go through this with, someone who is worth it to deal with all the BS. It really grinds my gears when I see some bright eyed youngin (yes youngin, I'm almost 28 years old) searching out some Marine or Soldier to trap because apparently being with a military man is cool. I'm not saying it happens all the time, or that young military marriages are just based on nothing but greed. But when these same people go into something thinking they're going to get goo-gobs of money and their loved one will never have to deploy, it's a little irritating. It's the military, granted I didn't know much at first but at least I knew that my husband was going to have to leave a lot and that I just had to suck it up.

That's the best piece of advice I can give, suck it up. Some people have this warped notion that military members make a ton of money, it ain't true. My husband made a little over $21,000 last year, and that was only because he deployed to Afghanistan for half the year so it was tax free. We're lucky because it's just him and me, we don't have children. Imagine that same salary having to take care of a family of 4 or 5, it gets stretched pretty thin. Are we to the glamorous part yet, this is depressing.

Bottom line, there is no glamorous part of military life. Our men are not knights in shining armor, they're heroes in dirty cammies and coveralls. The difference is that we still love them no matter what, dirty cammies or not, small salary and all.