I’m the daughter of a military dad. On the day I was born, my dad was flying through the clear blue skies above Luke AFB in Arizona. My mom, of course, was in labor at Williams AFB 60 miles away. (Geez, my dad was a geographic bachelor before there was any such thing as a geographic bachelor!!) Anyway, on the way to the hospital, my dad stopped at one of the flower grower’s stands that used to line the highway. He bought me–not mom–a bouquet. ”I want to be the first man to ever bring her flowers,” Dad explained.
I love that guy. Not just on Father’s Day, but all the time. Just like his uniforms and boots were an every day part of my childhood, so were his steadfastness, his intelligence, his devotion to my mother. And he also had the advantage of making every other father or a second grader look B-O-R-I-N-G on career day.
I’ve never been able to tease away how much of that was my dad in particular and how much of that was the military in my dad. If you are the child of a military father, how do you think that changed your life? Looking back on it from adulthood, what did you like about having a military dad? What would you change? Tell us a story!
About Jacey Eckhart
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Hi, Jacey, I am Eric's MIL and also the daughter of a military Dad. I loved waiting for his ship to come into port and as we all waited, everyone wanted to be the first to see the ship and then the first to see their dad. I remember Thanksgiving on board with all the military families. I thought my Dad was the most handsome man in the world wearing his dress uniform and had no problem telling others that. Listening to Taps played each night before going to bed was such a comfort and years later it just wasn't the same not hearing it. Daddy died in 1991 but I still am in contact with some of his sailor buddies and they have reunions every few years which they invite me too. I've been told many stories about my Dad that I would never know if I did not attend these reunions. Of course we always had to say "yes, sir" and "no, sir" which I though was hokey when I was a child but it installed a lifelong respect for others and still use those words. Thank you for letting me remember those days.
My dad is my hero. I haven't always been a great daughter, but he has always been a great dad. He was in the Air Force for 22 years. Although he was deployed a lot, he always wrote individual letters to me, my brother, and our mom. I always loved hearing the stories of the places he would go (my favorite stories are from when he was in Africa). He taught us to be patriotic, to love God and family, and always work hard and do your best.
I loved growing up military (I also married an Air Force man). It's all I've ever known. It is culture shock, to me, to talk with someone who doesn't know anything about military life.
I love when my family visits my parents and my dad comes home from work, I still greet him like a little girl (except now there are two extra little girls to greet him). He's a great Pop Pop as well :-)
My dad is a two tour Vietnam vet. We never got along. He was always cold and militaristic to me, even though he left the marine corps when he was in his early twenties. I was born in his early thirties.
Now, I am 34 and have a husband serving as a Doc in Afghanistan. He is going to be 24 in a few days. I have two kids from prior relationships. My husband loved them and acted as if they were his own from the moment he met them. I am astounded by his devotion and acceptance. He loves his job, and sometimes I worry that when he gets home from deployment he will always be wishing he can go back to the fight. I love my husband immensely, and I pray for his safety every day.
My husband can’t call or email for days on end.
I’ve always been scared of my dad. He is not warm, or fatherly. I would explain it as almost robotic. He is honest, hardworkIng, and very guarded with regard to his emotions or anything that has to do with military action. My father is terminally ill now.
I got very scared for my husband the other day. I had not heard from him in many days. I didn’t know what to do. I’m all alone, without friends or family. At 3 am (PST) which is 6 am (EST) in my despair I reached out to my father. We don’t talk much, but he learned how to text. I told him how I felt, and for the first time in my life my father told me the words I wanted to hear, “Everything is going to be okay”. It seems so simple. But he had never said those words to me (even if it was via text) in my life. I felt elated. I truly felt everything was going to be okay.
I hesitantly ended the text by saying, “Thank you, Daddy. I love you”. And for the first time in my life he responded, “I live you too”.
My dad may not be communicative, or emotional. But those few messages meant the world to me.
I also have to say how lucky I am to have a husband that accepts my kids as his own. I have prayed to God on so many occasions through life; but I never thought I could be blessed like this.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
M
I'm a Vietnam veteran. Please consider that when Vietnam veterans returned home, they were treated like pariahs. If you dared to talk about your experiences, people turned away from you and basically rejected you. For this reason (subconsciously in many cases), many Vietnam vets tended to avoid talking about these experiences to those nearest and dearest to them, lest they also reject them. Unfortunately, this frequently caused the same result. I pray for your husband's safe return, and thank him for his service, and hope that at least one of the good things that results from this is a better understanding, and hopefully closer relationship, between you, him, and your father!
Hi all, comment I just read brought back a flood of memories of my father. My dad broke his back while riding on a tank, He was discharged for that reason, honorable discharged (medical reason). Which he hated to happen, back in his day it was very honorable cause and he wanted to be part of history. He only received medical treatment while in the hospital. He never applied for disability, because he felt he didnt do enough in his military career. These kind of Americans are hard to find, HONOR was first in his mind. Enough said, I also was a Vietnam vet and not really proud of America people how they treated us on our freedom flight home.
My dad served in Vietnam. He was awarded 2 or 3 purple hearts during his career there. He is the hardest worker I have met to date. He made sure we had food on the table for his wife and four kids. In spite of struggling to make ends meet, we always had clothes on our backs, food in our stomachs, and love many never get to experience.
I was dad's little princess. In spite of working 70 hours a week to keep us afloat, he would still set aside time each night for me as a child to sit on his lap and let me discuss with him my day. As an adult now I wish I appreciated it more back then.
The one memory that stands out to me to show my dad's love and drive for his family was when I was in middle school. My dad was battling cancer (agent orange from Vietnam and lung cancer from smoking). He was going through chemo and radiation treatments at the time. Due to that he could not drive a car. We had a horrible storm one winter day and the snow was at least a foot high. I needed supplies for a project for school and my mom was out running errands. Next thing we know my dad was missing. He started walking in the blizzard to the store over a mile away to get my supplies. My mom came home and went after him. We found him almost to the store treading through the snow. He did all of this in spite of being so sick, the weather, and having to listen to my moms nagging afterwards.
Cancer and Agent Orange took my father's life back on August 5th, 1999. To this day, I will never forget all of the sacrifices my father made so his family could make it through the tough times. I feel him near me at times when I feel I can't go on. When I need courage, I go to his grave stone and pray for him to put in a good word for me with the man upstairs.
My father was the sweetest, strongest, and most loveable people you could ever meet. He had an amazing sense of humor, hard working ethic, caring for his family, strongest faith in God, and was the back bone to our family. This fathers day I will be honoring the life of my amazing father Thomas Winogrocki. Daddy-bop, you will never be forgotten, and we all love and miss you dearly. Happy Father's Day!
My father served in the army active duty and reserves for 22 years total. I never told him how proud of him I was till I got a little older. I used to hate that he was gone so much, but I now I appreciate it so much. He missed my mothers pregnancies with me and my brother, but made it in time for us to be born. I know sometimes miltary men have to miss the birth of their children, but our little milfamily was very lucky. I am getting married now myself to my own soldier. I am so proud of both of my soldiers :)
Absolutely LOVED being a Navy Brat! My dad flew helicopters and I was SO proud of him. I remember coming home to our base house in Japan one day and seeing my bearded (unusual) uniformed Daddy standing in the yard waiting to surprise us having returned from a deployment. When I was in first grade, my class made a field trip to see my Dad’s work…a hangar on North Island Coronado. I think my head was 3xs it’s normal size I was so proud. I could see him from inside the bus, as he stood at the hangar entrance to greet our bus and I remember saying…”that’s MY DAD”! everyone was in awe…or so I thought. Being a military kid was so normal to me but it dawned on me as I got older that is was special and unique. I’m still proud of my retired papa. He continues to live with honor and integrity and thankfully, humility too. As a Vietnam Veteran and career navy pilot , he has given my country and my family alot to be thankful for. As a now Army wife, we are hoping to carry that tradition on to our children too. I hope they have as rewarding a military brat life as I did and are as proud of their Daddy as I was.
I love my father dearly. This is going to be really hard for me to write out because of the emotional pain that goes with it.
My father served in the Navy long before I was born. I'm not entirely sure how many tours he had gone through, or how long he was in the Navy, because he's been, well, very vague about it. He has been distant throughout our lives, not in location but in mind. What happened to him really did change him(his words). He suffered a terrible loss while in the Navy, his buddy unintentionally committed suicide by putting a live round in his gun rather than one he hollowed out to 'scare' his GF into staying with him. My father was right next to him and was forced to clean it up when his CO came. :( He suffered PTS before PTS was an understood thing . As much of a butthead he was sometimes during my childhood he instilled values in us that many people do not have today. And you know what, despite everything, I thank him for that and his service.
The way he was treated after returning home was horrible. I can't believe how people could act like that towards someone signing over their lives in service to our country. It is not the service members fault for the actions of the higher ups. It really makes me sad.
Now my husband is in the Army. I just hope and pray things will be different for our son, and future children.
My father served 40 years active duty in the United States Coast Guard. I was blessed to have an incredible example of leadership, hard work and dedication. My family and I were able to enjoy seeing the country and stand behind him through all of his accomplishments. He was the best man at my wedding and I will always be thankful for the guidance and love that he deposited into my life. Not only do I hope to have a successful career myself in the Coast Guard, but I desire to also love my wife in the way that he loves my mom, and when I become a father to lead and edify them in the same way. The Coast Guard has been a central figure for my entire life, and it has provided my family with priceless experiences and opportunities. I pray I am able to contribute even a percentage to my country that my father has already given.
Edward John Ewing, my father, fought in World War Two on German Soil. His Job, other than shooting from time to time: after battles: he removed anything of value from dead Nazi Soldiers. This got to him after awhile. He got sick in Germany during that War and his skin turned yellow and his heart was damaged at a young age. After that War he graduated from M.I.T. and got a great Job. After I was born, after that War ended, I learned too much about the Military and the ways of War while still in Elementary School. During my last year of High School one day I snapped in a classroom and ended up in a Private Psych Hospital due to being terrified of going to Vietnam. I never did go there. Sometimes, looking back, I wonder if I had Pre PTSD? My father passed in October 1990 at 69. He was a great man. Sincerely, non Military member, John.
My father was a WW2 USAAF Glider Pilot, a Flight Officer, he landed in N Africa in 1943 serving in Italy ,Sicily, England, France,Holland Belgium,& Germany. He flew the CG4A Glider in the air assault invasions: of southern France, Holland & Germany. He died a horrible alcoholic death at age 50.
My dad was Marine. By the time I was old enough to form memories, he was out of the Marine Corps and back to farming. My parents never spoke about it. However, I had the only dad in the area that made sure we knew how to do a proper push-up by the time we were 6 yrs old. He always made sure my siblings and I would keep a straight line and break the plane. When he became a baseball coach for the local T-ball team, he had the whole team doing this. He also made us run and it was a run that the day we turned 12 was the day we started running before school. Keep in mind as I tell you this that we also had barn chores before school. This is just an example of the strange things he incorporated into his parenting. It all became very clear when I was 14 yrs old and finally realized the picture of the Marine on the livingroom wall was my Dad. Other lessons I learned were to never, ever-ever say I hate any of my siblings, make the most out of my day, don't watch tv during the daylight hours, and work my hardest even if it exceeds normal expectations.
Well said Melissa & thanks!
My dad has and will always be my inspiration for everything. He is a retired army ranger, I love him more than anything else in the world and thank god everyday that he made it through his service. He's always been by my side through thick and thin guiding me through life. He means more to me than anything and i plan to enlist in the marines after I finish high school to make him proud and serve my country just like he did. He taught me never to take anything for granite and that every day we live free is a gift from the millions who have died or are still alive who fought to protect this land.
I am the son of a WWII veteran who saw combat in North Africa, Sicily, Itaty , and then in through Southern France and into Central Europe. He never talked much about the war, though we would periodically get together with others at the reunions (my uncle, his twin also served in the same outfit). My father is still alive and kicking strong; what I remember and know is that he settled back into a civilian life following his discharge and raised a family. Though he didn't talk of the war often, he raised us to be good, solid citizens. He was frugal and full of common sense. Complaining and excuses were not part of the menu and we were encouraged to come with solutions and not problems. I don't often think of my father as a "military" man or having been in a military family; though I believe that many of his outlooks came from the hardship, and horror of war – but also his hope and belief that people can pick themselves up. My father is my hero and my mentor, I look up to him and turn to him for advice. His lessons and love resonate with me and I can only hope that I can be a fraction of the man that he is.