DH is thinking of going active Air Force, he is just not finding himself in all the civlian jobs he does.. He is just kinda lost. He feels he wants excitment and adventure, but does not want to work the rest of his life. He wants to retire nicely..

He said would I go with him if he went airforce, I'm thinking Deployments, great just another stress for me when I am trying to live a stress free lifestlye you know. He is prior army reserve, and I am currently in the army guard... So I know what its like to be deplyoed, etc.. Just dont want him deployed, but if its what he wants then ok...

So as far as the airforce, and army go, what are the differences, and the goods, the bads, the uglies.. Give me all you can.. I want it all..

We are a natural family, thus we dont vaccinate, no circ, natural home birth, you get the drift, I wonder how I am going to fit in to military families..

Thanks..

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Tara, wife to Jason, mama to Jayden 12/23/06 PG with #2 EDD 8/3/08 ~ non vaxing, co sleeping, cding, bfing,AP family.

I'm sorry this went unnoticed for so long.

I have been a navy spouse for ten years. It's the hardest job I've ever done voluntarily (besides motherhood). Your entire future is put on hold for what the government wants your spouse to do next. Making plans are difficult, however, if he works hard and is good at what he does and enjoys his job, your home like will be THAT much better. If you are willing to support his career despite not having much of a say, than I say go for it. Knowing you are already in the military reserves, you do have an idea of what the life can be like. To commit to it full time is a completely different story and does have its own challenges, but if you do love him and want him to be happy and are committed to supporting him, you can be happy.

The key is to try and have a life of your own outside of his work. That means, finding friends who are local to the area and doing things within the community not just the base sponsored activities. Surround yourself with positive and supportive people. NOt just military spouses. You will need that support when he deploys.

Deployments are the worst part of being a military spouse. It's not much easier on the active duty member either, so try and be there for him in every sense. He's doing his job and your job is to be the support/back bone/strength behind him.

I like our military lifestyle. I like moving around, meeting new people and finding new things to do. It's stressful while moving, but once settled, things normally work themselves out.

What a big decision you have ahead of you. I have really enjoyed our time in the military. My husband is a flyer so we do have a lot of time when he is gone but he has also seen some amazing things that he has shared with us. We just say he is scoping things out for when he takes us there later. Not to sound Pollyanna but a lot of it is how you approach it. Questions you might ask yourself, honestly, is whether you are able to tolerate change as a family, whether you can see the goods in a place/situation over the bads, whether you can be pretty self-sufficient (both temporally and emotionally). In my experience, these are the best indicators of whether you can enjoy military life. I completely agree with Christy that you will want to find life both on and off base.
As far as how people will react to your family, I think that is pretty much the same as you would find anywhere. We are homeschooling for the first time. It is interesting to see how people react to even something like that. Some take it in stride, others are obviously uncomfortable. Probably not much different than you experience now. I'm learning to stay away from people who would drain my life.
One of the best things that is ahead of us is DH retiring at 45 with great benefits. You just can't beat that. He is also working on his second masters, both paid for completely by the AF. Even with a few years left until retirement, he has great job prospects for life "when he grows up".
My husband has done a lot of joint assignments and I have to admit the Air Force has it a lot easier than the other branches. (DH is AF, not a slam) Deployments don't seem as long or frequent, most of the time. The AF bases that we have lived on have been nicer than the other branch bases that we have lived on. DH chose AF because it seemed easier on the family.
I would be glad to PM anytime. It isn't an easy life. They are a lot of goods to it, as well as some tough things. Let me know if I can help!