I was in the JAG in both the Army and Navy for several years while my husband remained a civilian attorney. It is a bit odd to be a woman in the military as it is, but then coming and showing off your husband at the family events is quite an interesting experience.
It took some time in the beginning for my husband to get used to the idea that in many ways my career played the alpha-male role in the relationship. But after the first few months we got accustomed to the lifestyle.
Like any military marriage, or marriage in general, you need a lot of communication. There were times when he and I were on different continents for months at a time with as little contact as once in 4 months. But we held on even through the hard times as we understood that marriage and love are permanent, our suffering was temporary.
He often talked to me about how occasionally the lifestyle made him feel mildly immasculated. But together we made sure to allow for times when he could show me off as his wife, and we always made sure to surround ourselves with as many civilian friends as possible.
It really is a hard life but together he and I got through it. We had been married only 2 years before I entered the military and I really think that the challenges presented to us in those years is what made us have as strong of a marriage as we do now.
