Raised to roam - military kids (Brats)

[Queen]

I saw in another thread that ramblingvanman and I are both military brats, I'd bet there are a few more of us here as well.

Being raised a Brat, especially back in the Cold War 50's 60's and 70's, meant constant moving, in the AF it was every 11 months or sooner if your dad went remote, back then when dad left you couldn't stay on base anymore and most families ended up with whatever grandparents had room for that year.

By first grade we'd moved five times, I went to 14 schools before high school, and now as an adult have moved dozens and dozens of times.  Can't seem to stay put no matter how hard I try.  My brother responded differently to that life and is now terrified of change, so he works jobs he hates, lives where he doesn't want to live, and longs for a different life, but has no clue how to make that happen and not be fearful.

So... we roam.  Some of us, anyway.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I came from a family that held pat and sweated on the grindstone. My dear Mom was the only one who understood my wanderlust.

 

[Queen]

That's how my dads family was, they never understood why he just wouldn't come home, marry a local girl, and raise a swarm of kids.

 

[LeeRevell]

Dad and Mom met in the USAF in the mid 50's.  Mom got out when she got pregnant.  Dad spent ten years in and did time in the Philipines and Morroco.  He detested Morroco and got out when he got back.  We stayed either at Mom's parents' or at a friend's home while Dad was overseas.  We moved here to his hometown in Florida when I was about three.
One of my bestest buddy's is a classic Airforce Brat.  His family spent a lot of time in England.  He never joined the military but I did.
I did four years in the USAF mostly at Tyndall AFB only 100 miles from home.  My second hitch was US Navy and I finally got to travel.  Oh boy did I travel!  ;-)

 

[Queen]

I joined the Army right out of HS, didn't want to follow in dads steps and the Navy recruiter was at lunch when I showed up, so Army it was.  Gotta love the way the 18 year old mind works. 

Didn't last long, my knee got messed up so I was out at 170 days.  Felt really weird to be cut off permanently from the life I was raised in.  "You can never go home again" has a different meaning when you're a military kid, I can literally never go to my original home again, that base closed in the late 60's.

 

[ramblingvanman]

"You can never go home again"

What is "home"? I feel more at home on the road than I ever did in any building we temporarily occupied.

 

[Queen]

Don't you love it when people ask where you're from?  As kids you didn't know if they wanted to know where you were born or where your last duty station was; as an adult I just say Illinois because I lived there the longest.

Rolling down the road feels much better inside, less twitchy, than being stuck in a house, for me anyway.

 

[Almost There]

Don't you love it when people ask where you're from?  As kids you didn't know if they wanted to know where you were born or where your last duty station was; as an adult I just say Illinois because I lived there the longest.

A perfectly correct answer is "I am a military brat" - it's a universally understood explanation that needs no followup!

It's like explaining ones' behavior with the phrases "I'm a preachers kid" or "I'm a product of the hippie era".

 

[Queen]

 My brother responded differently to that life and is now terrified of change, so he works jobs he hates, lives where he doesn't want to live, and longs for a different life, but has no clue how to make that happen and not be fearful.

Had to post an update... my brother finally broke free.  His wife proposed taking a traveling tech gig (she's an xray/cardiac cath lab tech), so he quit his job and off they went.  Living 13 weeks at a time in various places, they are loving it.  I KNEW he couldn't stay put forever, it's just not in our DNA!!   

 

[Gunny]

I didn't take my family to any of my overseas Duty Stations, several spots dependents were not allowed and I wanted the kids (2 boys and two girls) to have a stable life. Killed my marriage and I am not close to my four oldest children. It didn't matter they were provided for, I wasn't there for them. When my oldest turned 18 she blasted me about all the things I missed and I see her point. We talk but there is no 'closeness'. Life's choices.

My second set of kids (two girls) I raised, with help, from the ages of 3 and 6 as a single parent. I was out of the military but still worked for the DoD and traveled quite a bit but was home much more often. And am very close to the girls.

My admiration for military brats, you have it as tough as the actual service member.

 

[BobBski]

Count me as another military brat, 14 schools to graduate high school.  Then I did my own 20 year military career.  My job after retirement from the military???  22 years as a cross country truck driver of course lol...now full time van dweller.  Live to travel, travel to live.

 

[Queen]

It's really difficult to explain to people, how that urge to MOVE is ingrained. I just can't sit still; took my beloved 25 of our almost 27 years together to finally understand that while I may be happy sitting still in the short term, I will always want to go again before long. Thankfully, she wants to go too, now.

 

[ArtW]

Military brat untill the age of 7, then we moved often due to poverty after Dad retired
I am mixed, I like having a place i call my own, but also like to travel
My days off I almost never spend 'at home'
Never occurred to me that all those years of moving might have caused my love of motorcycling, running up various twisty roads just for the fun of it, and my restlesness

 

[Queen]

Art, my dad came back from the Philippines in 1965 with a '63 Honda Dream 305, it's what I learned on. 42 years of riding in my memory now, cross country trips, commuting, rallies, and weekends just going "out for a ride". I sure miss it, it really helped the wanderlust when vacation was months away!

 

[ArtW]

you will never see a motorcycle outside a shrink's office, unless the shrink owns it

 

[Queen]

I miss riding so much, but wandering out west ought to make up for it some.