The Navy Life

So this has been bothering me for a while. Well since a conversation I had with my grandmother... about 2 weeks ago. We were talking about doing our taxes and she made the comment 'Well I guess since you are military doing your taxes must be easy.' Ummm... well it's the same for us as it is for you, we use the same sites as everyone else, TurboTax and paid the same amount as everyone else. Just because we are military doesn't mean we are special. There are places that do occasionally give us a discount, they aren't even happy when they have to apply the discount. Every once in a while we may get a 'Thank You for serving'. And that is usually directed at him, which YES he does do a lot for the country, but what about me? While he is gone for 6-8 months at a time I'm here, alone, still running the house, paying the bills, taking care of Noah, TRASH, which I absolutely hate. So let's go through exactly what we have as a Navy family.

Housing: We actually pay for housing. Like the general public, before William and I got married I thought housing and the other stuff was free and the military family had it so good. The truth is, we are actually paying for housing every month. Our BAH (Basic Allowance Housing) is based on where we are based. They take it out of our paycheck, right now they are taking out about $1200 for our base housing and utilities. Which don't get me wrong, $1200 is an awesome price for a HOUSE and utilities, but that comes out of our pocket. And utilities, that's only gas, water, and electricity. The others we pay for. Which the others are really just luxury. And base housing, isn't really as safe as it sounds. Since we moved here, there have been protesters outside both gates protesting this base. We live on a Submarine base and these people have it in their heads that we go out and shoot nuclear bombs everytime we go out... crazy right? Well a while back these people cut through 3 barb wire fences and were here illegally and were attacking crew members. So this isn't a safe place. Well take a look at Ft. Knox... not safe.

Insurance: Again, like the general public I thought it was all free. WRONG. Again this is something else they take out of his paycheck. Insurance for him is free, he is the one serving, but for the rest of the family he has to pay. Well, for instance... your spouse get's a job that has health insurance. Usually the company pays for the spouse but then the spouse has to pay for the dependents if they have any. And of course we have to pay for dental insurance. And so far the Doctors I have seen have been ok. But I have heard some bad stories.

The Big Paychecks: Ok, AGAIN, like the general public, I thought that since the military worked for the government they made big bucks. WRONG again. If you actually do the math and we have since we got married because I was just so curious as to what he made an hour, they make ...cents an hour. To make maybe close to minimum wage you have to be an officer. So, if he makes ...cents an hour that means ...$ a day. And yes they do get paid salary, but they also work 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM 5 days a week, except on deployments. On deployments, they get up at 6 AM, get off at 8 PM, or later, and work EVERY DAY. They may get separation pay if they are gone longer than 30 days, but that is a measly $200. So my husband serves his country for DOLLARS a day.

Communication: Ok here's where the different branches differ. Army has Skype and IM and can talk on cell phone every day, but they are also in danger zones. Marines are the same, unless they are on a boat. Air Force, Skype, IM, cell phones, whatever... and you will rarely see them on a boat. Now Navy... we have 2 divisions, submarines and surface. If a spouse is surface like William, he can e-mail every day or even get a call out once in a while. A phone call is like $20 for 60 minutes of talk.  The lines to the phone are usually long and the calls are usually staticy. If a spouse is sub, e-mails are scarce. You may get 3 e-mails once a week. See, the sailors type them up and press send, and then the sub sends them out when they surface. And phone calls are even harder. A sub spouse will probably never get a call because the sub can't stay surfaced for very long... well not long enough to let a group of sailors all call their wives. I'm not giving a pity party just explaining our life.

Yes my husband chose this life, yes I chose this life when I married him. Just tired of people always ASSUMING we have it so easy just because we are the military. Most of the time we are forgotten. I know I am as a spouse.