If there's one thing we can be certain of in this military life, it's that there will always be something new, fresh, interesting and entertaining in our community to hold our attention. 2014 (what? is the year really OVER?!) was packed with things just like that, not to mention the great tips and tricks that you, our readers and contributors, tossed our way.
So here it goes -- what happened in 2014?
We took a ride on the benefits roller coaster.
First they said they were planning to make so many cuts that commissaries would have to close. Then they said they would make major changes to Tricare and other benefits and then ... none of that happened. Why? Because lawmakers are still waiting for the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (MCRMC).
Two military spouses at the 2014 Military.com Spouse Summit hold-up a list of benefits ranked by most important.
When it comes to benefits you know what's important to you.
At our annual Military.com Spouse Summit you were able to give a real, visual picture of what military benefits are important to you and why. And in all of our coverage here at SpouseBuzz on the commissary one thing remains clear -- benefits matter to you and you aren't afraid to make your voice heard.
There were some things that made our jaws drop.
Every year there are things in military life that are just so unreal we can't believe they are true. That's how you felt about Theresa Jones who didn't know that her husband had turned down SGLI until it was too late. There was the family on Fort Campbell with the wildly inappropriate Halloween decor, the former Navy family whose cat survived over 30 days in a moving box and the still ongoing saga of the cars seemingly lost during overseas PCSing.
Sexy Soldier Girl costume from Musotica available on Amazon
Sometimes stating the obvious is fun.
BuzzFeed may have a lock on the ridiculous cat photos, but we like to talk about those fun, quirky and sometimes just too obvious things about military life.
We had the top worst ManSpouse stereotypes, the MilSpouse stereotypes we hate the most, our favorite Army slang phrases, truths only MilSpouses understand, and how could we possibly forget the 10 military Halloween costumes we love to hate the most?
Kryste Buoniconti left this note in the pocket of her late husband's coat before she passed it on to the homeless. CW3 Frank Buoniconti died Dec. 13 in a helicopter training accident on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Then there were the things that pulled our heart strings in an amazing way.
Every now and then we have the chance to tell you about something that gives us the chance to pause and let our hearts recover. A few posts from this past year jump to mind, but our favorite was this one by Kryste Buoniconti about how she lives when every day is Memorial Day. Later we got to revisit Kryste again when we told you about her nonprofit, Live Your Love Loud. We also got to tell you about the boots and what we found there during a display on Fort Campbell, Ky.
2014 was a fantastic, crazy year -- and we know 2015 is going to be even better. Hold on!
