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[quote=Anonymous]My dad was military and I think my sister and I had an awesome childhood. We lived all over the world, learned how to quickly make friends, and built strong bonds because we always had to rely on each other. We remain a close-knit family.

Mom was SAH until I hit middle school, so she definitely did the brunt of the housework and childcare, but my dad was very engaged in our lives. Even when he was away, there were frequent phone calls, letters, etc. and we always knew we were foremost in his thoughts. (This was pre-Internet and pre-Skype.) The only time I remember truly being bummed was when he was deployed and missed my 10th birthday.

That said, I found out much later that my dad sacrificed some career growth to make things easier on the family. To the extent he could, he turned down assignments in family-unfriendly places, extended his assignments in family-friendly ones, etc. The military largely dictates your life, but he was willing to delay promotion/retire a grade or two lower to have a better work-family balance.

FWIW, the military-brat childhood left me and my sister with very different desires. I love to travel, don't mind moving frequently, and hope to expose my children to the world (preferably by living overseas for a few years). My sister think she's done enough traveling for a lifetime, is very happy to own a home and never move again, and wants her children to have the stability of living in the same neighborhood, with the same friends, and be able to have somewhere to put down roots. Different strokes, but we are super close to each other, and our parents.[/quote]

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