~You show your military ID to the greeter at Walmart
~You've ever been referred to as "Household 6"
~You've ever had a pet named Scout, Ranger or Sergeant
~It only cost you $40 to have a child
~You can't remember the last time you saw a doctor who wasn't wearing ACUs
~You know that a 3 month separation IS short, no matter what your civilian friends say, heck 9 months is a breeze!
~Your husband's work and dress clothes cost more than yours do
~You can unpack a house and have everything in place in 48 hours
~You need a translator to talk to your civilian friends, only because they have no idea what DFAS, AER, TDY, ACS, NPD, PCS, ACU's, AAR and ETS mean
~You string Constantina wire to keep the neighbor's kids out of your flower beds
~You've changed more oil and mowed more lawns than your husband because he's never there to do it himself
~You use a crook-neck flashlight with a red lens during power outages because it's the only one you can ever find in the house
~Your children say "hoo ah" or "roger that" instead of "ok"
~You know that it's normal to light shoe polish on fire and that the best way to spit-shine boots is with cotton balls
~Your husband does a route recon and takes a GPS for a trip to the mall
~You only write in pencil because EVERYTHING is subject to change
~You have a larger selection of curtains than Walmart does
~You can remember where you kept the Scotch tape in your last house, but unfortunately, not in this one
~You mark time in duty stations, not years
~You refer to friends not only by name but by the state that they live in
~You know that "back home" doesn't mean at the house you live in now
~You tear up when you hear "Proud to Be An American," even though you've heard it 50 times by now
~You ALWAYS know when payday is and get ticked off if there are more than 2 weekends during that pay period
~You know better than to go to the PX or commissary between 11:30 and 13:00 unless it's a life or death emergency
~You know that any reference to "sand" or a "box" describes NTC at Ft. Irwin, not your kid's backyard toys
~You know that "Ft. Puke" is a completely accurate description of Ft. Polk
~You find yourself explaining your husband's LES to him
~You have enough camouflage in your house to wallpaper the White House
~You don't have to think about what time 21:30 is
~You're the TC, not a backseat driver
~You start ripping open MREs and looking for the M&Ms when you run out of Halloween candy
~You stand for the National Anthem at a movie theatre
~The local dry cleaner knows you by your first name
~You find that a large number of your clothes and household items are olive drab or loam, even though you never planned it that way
~You pick apart uniforms on TV and in the movies, even though you used to yell at your husband for doing the same thing
~You have a stock in flat rate shipping boxes, in varying sizes.
~You’ve spent more time apart than you have together.
~When the cashier ask you for your zip code you just stand there and stare
~You wish you could go to CIF to DX your old stuff like your husband can
~You've learned to sleep through the sounds of tanks, planes, helicopters and artillery rounds
~You give your kids a hand receipt when they take your Tupperware to school
~You can hate military life but be terrified to leave it all in the same breath
~You defend your lifestyle no matter how bad things get because you know there's no other life for you.
MANY of these are soooo true!
