Lucas H...
M.C. Perry High School
The life of a military child can be very painful. What makes being a military child so painful is that you always move after a certain time in your father’s career. The painful thing is knowing that you're leaving your friends behind and missing out what they are doing. I had many friends in different military bases. For example, at Atsugi, I made great friends that changed my life forever and brought many things into my life that made it more exciting. But as soon as I started to feel settled, I had to leave the place I stayed for the years, where I spent the end of my elementary school days, to move to a new place where I have to make new friends. There is constant change and change results in growing pains. But as I write this I realized that while moving will always have its downsides, it will always have some upsides. Firstly, moving brings new things into my life like new learning and cultural experiences. When I am in a totally new area, I can learn more new things and make new friends. So my advice to other military kids is that you shouldn't worry about the sacrifices of being a military child. You should always stay in contact with the friends you left behind and support yourself and your family. Although it's challenging enough being a military child, all our parents are also going through their own challenges being deployed. Deployment can really affect the whole family, but we always have to stay in contact to have a healthy relationship with our parents. Finally, you should always stay positive even if you're upset about moving to somewhere far away from family and friends. Many future opportunities and experiences will come to you eventually. Be patient and stay positive. You will overcome challenges and walk past the pain.