Military Brats

From Veterans United:

"5 Reasons Being a Military Brat is Awesome"

Some military parents fear that their lifestyle hurts or would hurt their children. So, some service members decide to leave the military for the sake of their kids. Military children, though, have been resilient and grew up to take advantage of the benefits gained during their childhood. I am one of millions of American “military brats.” Here are five benefits I have received from my military family experiences.

Experience and Appreciation of Diversity

Military children on average make more moves that their civilian counterparts. Therefore, they encounter many cultures and the experience helps them to appreciate the diversity in our world. Not many non-military children can say that they have lived in England, Germany, Korea or Japan.

When it comes to military children, I’m a bit of an exception. We lived on one military base — Fort Hood — for 12 years, but that didn’t prevent me from experiencing diverse culture. At my high school and in my neighborhood on base I had classmates and friends of many ethnicities and backgrounds. In addition, my mother is German, so I already came from a multicultural home. I learned much about different cultures then and I continue to carry a curiosity for and fascination by other cultures today.

Proficiency in Language Learning

Children are language sponges when they are young. When they grow up overseas they have opportunities to pick up a second language easily and fluently. The trick will be keeping it up when the family changes station. Even if the military child forgets the second tongue, having learned it will help their brain be more receptive to picking up new ones when they are an adult.

I grew up speaking English and German and still speak both today. Also, I’ve taken an interest in French, Spanish and Latin. I don’t imagine I’ll be speaking Latin anytime soon.

Adaptability to New Environments and Situations

As stated above, military children move on average more than their non-military peers. That means, in addition to the benefit of engaging diverse cultures and ideas, they constantly have to make new friends and acclimate to new places. At first, this can be stressful and at times saddening, but over time military children pick up a very important skill — adaptability — which will aid them in school, the work place and life in general. Today, my adaptability has served me well — I’ve survived six moves so far as an adult, and I enjoy friendships from around the world.

Desire to Serve Others

Not everyone joins the military for the primary reason of service, but over time each military member comes to live a life of service — to give to and sacrifice for others and a cause greater than themselves. Military children recognize the importance of sacrificial service.“Being in a military family I can appreciate the veterans and their families more,” Andy, a military child aged 11, told Time. “I relate to what they sacrificed because my dad went to war too.” My adult life has been all about service. As a teenager I wanted to the join the military, following the footsteps of my father. So, after college I joined the Air Force as an officer and even did one tour in Afghanistan. I left the Air Force after three years to enter the seminary. Although, I learned that ministerial service was not for me I learned that I wanted to serve through education. Currently, I am in school working my way towards a Ph.D.

Connection to Other Military Children

Not only do military children make friends from all over the country and the world, there is a special bond that exists between military children. It’s the equivalent of learning that someone is from your hometown plus the shared experiences of moves, parent deployments and generic AAFES brand products. Many times I have met other adult military brats and we hit it off when we learn of each other’s background, waxing nostalgic over wearing our parents’ camo and eating their MREs when they have returned home from “the field.”

^ I am a military brat and have moved 6 times around the world and the US before I finished high school. The person who wrote this article says they are a military brat yet they write about it through official US Military propaganda eyes. This is the exact things we were constantly told at every military school and on AFN (Armed Forces Network - the only English channel we had overseas.) Instead of commercials AFN played cheap Public Service Announcements on things like how to dress and act so you can be an unofficial ambassador of the US to the world, etc. No one took those PSAs seriously. Another phrase I kept hearing (from all the adults) was that this is the best years of our lives and that we are getting many opportunities to travel, learn languages and learn different cultures than most people do. When you are a military brat (as with most children) you don't care about behaving like an ambassador or bringing together different cultures. You care about making friends, keeping in touch with the friends you have made and doing fun things. In the time before the Internet keeping in touch was very difficult as most people moved every 3 years (although I have since reconnected with people I lost in touch with due to years of moves.) Also anything a military brat does reflects on their parents and will reflect on their careers. I wish the US Military and other adults would treat military brats like the children they are instead of talking to them about things children don't care about. ^

http://www.veteransunited.com/spouse/reasons-being-a-military-brat-is-awesome/