Ah, for the good old days...

Today, I am reminded that the good old days of the Army were so much better...

Back in the good old days, families were not expected to believe we were all the same on any but a human level. In the good old days, it was acceptable to acknowledge that our husband's rank had a big role in determining our lifestyle.

Yes, in the good old days, the wife of a brand new Private wouldn't take one look at my house, say it was unfair that I live here while she lives in a nasty old apartment, and wonder out loud why her husband wouldn't get her a big house like my husband got for me. Back then, I would not have had to explain to her that pay is different for soldiers who have served 17 years like mine vs 4 months like hers.

Ah to be back then, when the wife of a rank-and-file soldier would not argue with the wife of someone on the Colonel's staff about what the unit was up to next. Oh yes, there was once a time when the obvious was accepted as obvious, that some positions within the unit (and yes, some ranks) knew more, and knew it sooner, than others. No, I'm sorry, but what your PFC husband heard from his PFC buddies does not trump what my husband heard in the Command and Staff meeting, from the Colonel himself. Once upon a time, nobody would have argued with me on that.

If you've never been in my position (and most of my readers have not been) then you wonder why I even care about these others, what they think, and what they say. I guess I don't HAVE to. I could plug my ears, hang out only with my two close friends whose husbands are exactly Thak's rank, and who have been affiliated with the Army for the same amount of time as I have, give or take a year. I could hole myself up in my house and only deal with those two, but that's not realistic. I HAVE to deal with these others, and I HAVE to listen to them going on and on and on about the things which intrigue them, which are usually things which I've been through more times than anyone ever should, and by now know are my own personal hell. I'm sorry, but I don't want to hear about how the unit is supposedly deploying next month because some PFC is getting trigger-happy and started a rumor to that effect. No, I happen to know that in the Command and Staff meeting, deployment is not even discussed with a date, just as "an eventuality" meaning it's not happening this year, and may not even happen next year. NOBODY KNOWS YET, BUT IT'S NO TIME SOON. Still, I have to listen to the No Tour Wonders going on and on about it as if it's the new cool thing to do, and I'm sorry, but that just gets tiresome.

Yes, once upon a time, I could shut them up. Now they all chorus just like sheep at feeding time, "Wives are all the same! We have no rank! You don't know anything we don't know!" Yes, because over the course of the past 8 years for which I have been affiliated with the Army either as a soldier, a girlfriend, or a wife, I've learned absolutely nothing that they haven't picked up in the 4 MONTHS since their husband got the ingenious idea to stop at the recruiting station.

And I'm sorry, but it is TOTALLY fair that I live better than they do because of Thak's rank. So what if I married him 12 years into his career? We all choose the ramifications of what we marry. Choose to marry a Private, you choose to be poor and not well regarded. Choose to marry someone of Thak's persuasion, you choose to raise your children alone because he's always working, but hey, you get to do it in a nice big house.... Choose to marry an officer, yes, you will have all kinds of perks, but you will also have TONS of obligations, and what's voluntary for NCO wives like me is MANDATORY for Officers' wives.

We all choose our lot. I'm comfy in the middle. I can accept that some are higher than I am, and I give them proper respect. I wish those below me and my friends would give us proper respect and consideration. Once upon a time, they would have known.... Now the Army is just too politically correct for its own good.

Not too much longer until we're done!!!