Life-long friends. Thank you U.S. Navy

3/2/26

United States

Iran

Dedicating this blog to my lifelong friends whom I treasure immensely -courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

While lying in bed, I saw that the United States took the action of bombing Iran. I am not going to get into details with this blog as many of you probably have been watching various media outlets. However, I have received some emails voicing interesting opinions about this. While I truly appreciate each one of you, I recognize my readers have differing and strong opinions.  I make every effort to remain neutral but at times I want to put my hands over my ears and tune out the intense debates from both sides.  I have read comments such as it was a “good thing for the United States to bomb Iran to save them from a tyrannical leader.” “Women will have equal rights in that country again.” “Past presidents did not get congressional approval to bomb Syria or Libya, so what is the problem?"  On the other side, I heard comments like “WW3 has now officially started." “Get ready to sacrifice your youth to Iran." “Trump should have gotten congressional approval." “He started this because of his role in the Epstein files.”   Let’s take a moment, take a deep breath, take a step back and think of it from a different perspective.  This has nothing to do with the left or right anymore. Let me explain.

As I was coughing my brains out and watching podcast after podcast.  I was contacted via instant message by a close friend from my time as an active-duty military spouse, who, because of her big heart, was reaching out to check on the well-being of her previous connections within the military spouse community.   Now many of us have new lives, some of us are divorced, some of us have lost our spouses due to suicide, some of us are stationed stateside and some of us are stationed overseas. But to enlighten my readers who have not experienced living the military lifestyle, it never truly leaves you.  These wonderful strangers become your second family. You worry, laugh, cry and learn together, especially while trying to navigate living overseas.  This is why when the news came out that the United States bombed Iran, I can guarantee every previous active duty military spouse, military child, parents, family, friends and military veterans felt the instant pain in their hearts. Every one of us stopped for a moment, took a sharp breath and immediately thought of those living through this serious situation. As the news quickly spread throughout social media, certain military social media pages immediately blew up and became a large ongoing bulletin board with pictures of various service members. Families asking repeatedly for any information about the status of their service members’ ship or command. The word OPSEC is stated repeatedly on all these platforms. Understandably so.  Nevertheless, the desperation of the young military spouses, parents and relatives of deployed service members is clearly seen and felt.  The rest of us “old timers” relive our own experiences with these posts. For me, the constant fear and worry was at times overwhelming.  I always forced a broad smile, as daddy in those very early mornings left for those long deployments. I would hold back tears so my girls wouldn't see me cry, some tears did slip through.  This is where your friendships with fellow military spouses are cemented. This is also where the support of the wonderful organizations like the USO, the Navy-Marine Corp Relief Society, the Red Cross and Fleet and Family Services also step in to provide support and give a rewarding mental break.  Even as I write this blog, many of these employees are being activated to deploy to the middle east to help our U.S. Military service members.  I know because I was once a proud employee of one of those amazing organizations. The military support system is strong and fierce with love and support. Even now, we “old timers” many years later are still checking up on each other. Thank you, Lyndsay.  

So let’s bring this blog back to full circle.  I realize everyone has different opinions about how this bombing was handled and still being navigated through. Folks, I hate to break it to you but it’s too late. We are here now.  There is no longer a choice whether you are on the right or left.  We no longer have that luxury anymore. The fire is spreading. This is now about our active-duty service members and their families. This is about how we are going to adapt to this brave new world. Are you ready?