2023/Mayumi -23634

When did you realize that your “military life” made you different from other kids? Who were you with and what led up to the realization?

When I realized that my “military life” made me different from other kids was when other military kids had to move almost every two or three years and how our dads or moms would be in deployment for a year or months. Since I'm a military child, when I was younger, my Dad would be gone for a year or for months. Unlike other kids that aren’t military, it's different. But for me I’ve stayed in the same country since my family extended the dates, I would have to always make new friends because my old friends moved. To me, it’s hard and takes time to make some new friends, and makes me wish they could have stayed here longer.

During those times, it was only me, my mom, and my sister because our Dad was on his ship. What led me up to the realization was how my cousins that aren’t military, they haven’t moved anywhere and have been there their whole life. They even have friends that they’ve grown up together with. But unlike me, my old friends probably don’t even remember me. As a military child I’ve traveled to so many places and it's pretty hard but also exciting to get to experience other places for a few years and move again.

Sometimes when I was young and my Dad wasn’t here, they were some cons, and it was with helping my Mom with everything and taking care of my little sister. Most of the time it was harder for my mom because she was left with everything else while our dad was gone. I’ve also had feelings when I wished my dad was here instead of being gone for months. But as I grew older I got used to my Dad being away for a few days or more.