30+ Any civilian federal employees or academic couples in LDRs on here?

[Rusty]

Just wondering because it seems that in my line of work (natural resources management), LDRs are quite common, especially among employees of the federal government or research institutions. I've known even married couples to have to spend time apart. I've had a couple of coworkers in the same situation but I don't feel comfortable talking to them about it, as friendly as we are. So is anyone else out there trying to have it all and close the distance while enabling both partners to climb the career ladder? I've seen it done and it's not impossible, but what are y'all's experiences? What sacrifices have you made?

[Ejoriah]

I'm not quite at 30+ (I'm 24 and my fiancé is 26), but he works in cultural resource management while I am pursuing my PhD. I am lucky that so far he found a job in town, but he is definitely wanting to get those jobs that need him to travel to other places.

We're still pretty new at this, but so far and from what we've seen around us, it's almost about "taking turns." We moved to Arizona for me, but a few years down the line we may move elsewhere that has better opportunities for him. I know some of my friends have mentioned that they've been waiting for their partners for a while and now it is "their turn" to work on what they want.

I've also come to terms with the fact that there's always going to be some element of distance in our relationship. He'll be traveling for work, and I'll be needing to travel to do field research. What's important to us though is that we have a home, that we've made together, and that we both get to come back to.