I recall being a young bride. My husband was a young enlisted soldier and hadn't done anything too crazy in the Army yet. Drill and AT were hard to handle, and I didn't know any other guard wives to vent to when he left.
I always feared he'd get deployed, and lived in a constant state of exhaustion from the wonder and the unknown.
It took about 3 years, and that fear came true. All of a sudden I realized that National Guard guys get deployed as often as active duty guys do. That while the whole nation thinks "he's just in the reserves right?", he's actually wearing the same damn uniform that his active duty brothers do.
I had zero clue what was coming my way. Pre-mob, mob, homecoming, reintegration... how could I? A guard wife in a civilian town, with no other guard wife friends... I was in a whole new world, drowning in fear and overwhelm.
But I did the thing, all with a two month old and a 2 year old at the time.
Pre-mob was three months. He got a four day pass at Christmas, then shipped out in January. He got home a week before my son turned 1.
Those were hard days. Keeping a marriage together while your spouse is on the other side of the world is hard stuff. Keeping a marriage together when they get home after a year of hostile and controlling environments is hard stuff. Teaching your kids to love a man they don't know is hard stuff.
But we press on anyway.
Turns out, being a mil spouse makes you one strong hard ass. You crumble, or you succeed. You fail, or you press on to win the prize. You die under the weight of the suck this life brings to your home, or you cry for a minute and decide to survive.
There are many things we can't control. While the world has no clue what we're up to sending our men out to do their fighting, we're pressing on without recognition or praise.
That's why Magdon Tactical exists.
To serve the families of the Citizen Soldier, and all those who serve alongside him.
We get it. We're here to serve you.
~ An Army National Guard Wife