Augusta Military Divorce Attorney – Military spouses deserve a special nod

Augusta Military Divorce Attorney - Military spouses deserve a special nod

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10, 2009. If you need a reminder just check your calendar.

What you might not find on that calendar, however, is that the Friday before Mother’s Day is designated as a day of remembrance for another very special group — it’s called Military Spouse Day.

Military Spouse Day was first celebrated 25 years ago. President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation assigning the Friday before Mother’ Day as a time to honor and commemorate the contributions of military spouses. It is likely that few people are even aware this special day exists.

Military families clearly live a different life then their civilian counterparts. The military family might have the opportunity to travel to wondrous places they might never had a chance to visit as civilians. Their duty stations could be in Europe, the Far East, the South Pacific, or even beautiful areas of this country. But, there is another side to being a military spouse.

While most marriages undergo stressful situations from time to time, the military spouse undergoes a different kind of stress and responsibility. For example, it is more than likely that every few years there will be a relocation move and upheaval. The necessity of going to a new base, making new friends, getting familiar with the new surroundings can be very trying. There is the chance of being assigned to a location that might not always be a scenic spot and could be an area that is extremely cold in the winter and excessively hot in the summer and miles from the nearest town.

There is also the dreaded deployment to a war zone, when the military partner might be gone, not just for several months, but for a year or more. The military spouse could be left alone thousands of miles away from the friends and relatives back home. There could be long periods raising the children alone, and having to learn to function without that husband or wife around. They could spend waking hours and sleepless nights worrying and wondering if their loved one will return whole, physically and mentally.

Then after a long separation period there is the period of readjustment when the military partner returns. Will everything be as it was before? Unfortunately, for some, these obstacles become too much to overcome and the marriage ends in divorce. The rate of divorce in the military, as reported in one study, is about 3.3 percent (25,000 failed marriages among 755,000 married active duty troops during the year of 2006 and 2007). Military spouses are not all females, and the rate of divorce where the person in the military is female and the husband is a civilian could be as high as 8 percent.

Being a military spouse can be rewarding but, it can also be very challenging. Those military spouses who accept the military lifestyle for themselves and their family, do so because they truly believe their life has purpose. To the military spouse the words honor, duty, sacrifice have real meaning and are not just punch lines in some speech given by those who never served in the military or never endured the sacrifices of a being military spouse.

It has been reported that during his retirement ceremony, Navy Chief Petty Officer Jeff Edwards, said this to his wife: “You are a patriot — the sort of citizen that all of us should be, but so few are. You live with sacrifice, because you believe in the rights and ideals that your husband defends. Although you wear no uniform, you are part of that defense — a vital link in the chain of freedom. Although you wear no medals and will reap no glory on the field of battle, you are a hero in the truest sense of the word. You are a military spouse.”

His thoughts could easily apply to all military spouses. His words echo the much-used phrase that was derived from World War II, “They also serve who stand and wait.”

As we celebrate and honor all mothers this Mother’s Day, let us also take a moment on the Friday before Mother’s Day (May to remember that very special, dedicated group — the Military Spouse.

Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is an Augusta GA divorce lawyer & Georgia Military Divorce Lawyer Augusta Georgia domestic mediator.  She is an Augusta military divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney , and Augusta Georgia child support attorney.  She offers mediation for divorce, child custody, and child support.