Drill Sergeant duty has been filled with ups and downs. It’s hard seeing my husband so tired and having to convince myself that even though he’s home physically, it doesn’t mean he is home mentally. For every good thing about drill sergeant duty, there are just as many challenging ones, but I find laughing about it helps in dealing with the difficulties better than mulling over what you wish was different. If you have endured this assignment with your troop or are going through it now, you will definitely appreciate the list below!
1. You can experiment with new recipes in the kitchen, and it’s okay if it tastes awful because you are the only one who will ever know. WARNING: homemade hibachi never ends well.
2. You save money because other couples feel bad the Drill Sergeant has to work so much that they offer to pay for your meals. Did someone say Surf-n-Turf?
3. In the rare occurrence your Drill Sergeant is home and not fast asleep, you win all disagreements because his voice will be gone from yelling at the privates.
4. You’re free to watch all of the chick flicks and reality television you want without the Drill Sergeant telling you why those shows are “the problem with society today.”
5. You can revel in the fact that you never have to leave your bed unless you want to. The Drill Sergeant sees you in the morning the same way as when he comes home—asleep!
6. You save on beauty products because you no longer need to shave your legs (I don’t advise this one!).
7. You begin to notice you no longer have to pick up after the Drill Sergeant because he is not home long enough to do anything but look adorable while he sleeps.
8. You enjoy the fact that your kids can’t get away with saying, “But Dad told us we could!” Because Dad hasn’t been home to do anything but kiss everybody goodnight.
9. Though you are jolted from sleep at 4am by five different alarm clocks blaring everything from incessant beeping to Darth Vader’s theme song, you get to roll back over and sleep for at least four more hours and dream of the day that the exciting Drill Sergeant moments of your marriage have come to an end and you can spend time together again as a family.
10. For two whole years, you have the comfort of your Drill Sergeant home every night while the next deployment is still far, far away…
Army wife Stacy Swearengen is a Certified Career, Education and Adult Learning Coach <http://www.portablecareerplanning.com/> who specializes in helping military spouses and girlfriends develop portable careers by first identifying their passion.
