2025/Emma-35015

I joined the ranks of a “military brat” in February, 2013, my dad was a drill instructor on Parris Island making Marines when I was born. My parents had lived a whole life before I came along, my dad had deployed several times to Iraq, Afghanistan, was on MEU’s and was really busy serving his country all before I joined. My mom didn’t know anything about the Marine Corps when she married my dad, she was busy going to school and working, but they got married and she moved across the country to be with him. She finished college while he was gone, worked until I was born and has been the best supporter to our family. Shortly after I was born they had my little sister, Eva and she and I have been living as military kids since.

There are pros and cons with being a military kid, but it is all I know and even if I could I don’t think I would change my life. Staying in the same town, going to the same school and seeing the same people might sound comforting, but I’ve had so many adventures because I’m a military kid. Moving around has allowed me to learn to be more social in new environments and because of that I have met so many interesting people. When I lived in South Carolina we had a lot of friends and “framily” (friends that became family) that made living in the low country a lot of fun. Living in a small town that had a lot of Marines around wasn’t so bad because in Beaufort, where we lived they always had family events, races, festivals and chances for us to do something fun and we did it all. Even with our dad working all the time, our mom, her friends and their kids would get together and make the most of living the “drill field life.” Our neighbors that weren’t apart of the military were always kind and understanding like our little old neighbor Ms. Pat would always share her baked goodies when she made something and bring it to us and tell our dad how lucky he was to have us girls. Then, it was time to move and off we went a little north to North Carolina and our first time living on base. We made the best of friends there and even some of our friends from Beaufort were there too. Because living as a military kid is knowing no matter where you go, there will be a new friend and even old friends there waiting. Also in strange and scary times like when Covid happened and we didn’t know what we were going to do about school or if we could see our friends and family, it didn’t feel so bad because living on base felt like a safe bubble. During Covid we had to move again and ended up at a joint base in San Antonio which we were excited about because all of our family is from Texas like my mom and dad. When we got to our new house in Fort Sam Houston we immediately made a friend that lived next door, she became our best friend and we shared so many adventures together and even still today we talk and plan to see each other again. Living in Texas was like a nice treat because we traveled to Dallas more since it was closer and got to visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. My dad was gone a lot, but he was at least in the same country and not deployed. We got to fly to Quantico to pin him after he completed TBS which was so cool. We stayed with friends that we knew from South Carolina and had other friends that drove up to be there for our family on my dad’s special day because military families stick together. Once my dad finished more school and returned it was time to move again, but this move would be to my current home in Okinawa, Japan. It took my mom a lot of work to get everything together for this move since my dad was gone the entire time, we had to get passports, shots and many appointments for us to be ready for our long flight to get here. Now that we are here we are creating more adventures and learning a whole new culture and way of living. I love living here because the people are so kind and the food is amazing, I want to eat it all. We are on a beautiful island and getting to swim in the ocean is one of my favorite things, there is plenty to explore here and I even made new friends. My dad still has some more time in the Marine Corps and our journey continues. I don’t know where we will go next, but I’m not worried because this is what I do, I’m a military child and no matter where I land I always find a way to make it feel like home.

I wouldn’t say I am an expert, but I would call myself a professional “military brat” and if I were to describe my life in one short sentence I would say “My life isn’t for everyone, but my life is an adventure and I’m happy to be on the journey.” I’m grateful for my dad that works really hard all of the time and gives us a life that shows us more of the world and how lucky we really are and to my mom making everything work and run smoothly so that my sister and I can just worry about being kids and school of course. Being a military kid is pretty awesome!