A talk to share with Wards new to military folks

I ran across this Ensign article that was published in 1991.  She gives a lot of decent advice on how Wards can help military families.  If you are in a Ward that is new to the military, it might help them to understand some of our needs.

I can't believe no one else has done this yet!

I was really surprised when I started looking for websites or blogs or other online resources for LDS military spouses that there really weren't any.  I found a MySpace group, but that is a little too public for me.  I don't know about you, but given the nature of my spouse's job, I try to minimize the amount of information that is on-line about us.  

My spouse was talking to the bishop in the ward next door to ours the other day when they ran into each other on base.  The bishop had just started a tour where he was going to have to deploy for the first time since joining the military and he wasn't excited about it.  I thought about his wife and their gaggle of kids, and wondered what support they would get during deployment?  I also thought about how wonderful the church is and what a great social and support network it is, but there are times, like during deployment, when at least I felt a little out of place.  When people would come up to me at church and ask how I was doing, I always felt it was tinged with pity.  "Oh you poor thing, only been married four weeks and your spouse deploys."  

I would attend spouse club events held by our unit, but never felt 100% comfortable there either because much of the socialization revolved around alcohol, and while they were great and amazing people, our lack of shared values made it hard for me to feel like I really had someone I could talk to who really understood everything I was going through.

Hence this blog.  We and our spouses face challenges that many of our Ward members, family members and friends can only imagine.  I know many of you face challenges that would blow me away.  One of the reasons Joseph Smith told the Saints to meet together often was because just by being together, they could support and edify each other and make each other's burden's light.  So please, share your ideas, your triumphs and tragedies.  Regardless of how you feel, there is probably someone else who has gone through something similar and survived.  This is a non-judgemental forum that will reflect LDS standards.