The Army? - Comments

Aww....Faithicans. I'm here is you need to talk to me. I have a cousin that's in the army. :(

Well, I'm an army brat myself and I can tell you from my experiences and from the experiences of several other people in the army, that it's hard to keep in contact with people once you've moved.

When you join the military, they own you for the years that you've signed up for and they dictate your schedual. Which means that active members tend to be busy and when they're not working, they're trying to relax from the work, and a lot of the time, writing emails and talking on the phone is probably one of the last thing on people's mind.

The only advice I can give you is like Audrey T. said, you have to be the one to send the emails, write the letters, make the phone calls. Because it's not going to be like the relationship that you two had earlier on, it's different now.

And, it's gonna be tough, but if you two really care for each other then it's just an added effort to keep contact up. Trust me, it's an appreciated effort when you're the one sending an email, even just a simple letter out of no where means a lot to people.

One of my close cousins joined the army and was eventually sent over-seas, she's still there now. She's been in the army for about six years now and so I hardly ever see her. Growing up we were very close so at first it was pretty hard but we've since grown apart. :(

BUT on a happier note, I do have a very close friend, a guy I knew since I was born (we grew up on the same block, our mothers were friends...that whole story). He joined the army after he graduated from high school (the couple of years before I did) and I missed him like crazy. While he was in training we sent each other a lot of letters (I was writing to him at least three times a week) and now that he's over-seas we still keep in close contact. I write to him about once a week.

It's harder, definitely, to stay close to someone that's so far away, and really I think the only thing you can do is keep communication open. Write A LOT. Pour in all those details that might seem boring because it's normal and it will remind him of home and of you and of what's it's like to be near you.

My best friend's boyfriend is currently in the National Guard. They've been dating for over six years and he was sent off for training earlier this year. It's been insanely hard on her, but he gets to come home every few weeks and so they try to make the best of it when he is there.