Military couples!

[Xanahtas]

Ok so i've always wondered this...
Im asking mainly because my SO wanted to join the Canadian forces working on bomb disposal. He told me this and i just freaked out. He said he wouldnt go if i didnt want him to, so he didnt go - also because he said he had something to live for - me Its not that i dont agree with the troops being there, because i have a huge amount of respect for them. I was just scared of loosing him >.< seems selfish to say that i didnt want him to go, but he wanted me to be happy >.<
I was just wondering a few things:
How often do you talk to your SO when they are out doing their thing?
How do you comunicate?
How often do you see them?
Do you always worry about your SO when they are out?
And maybe some personal experience stories? I'm just curious
Thanks everyone

[adielovesshelbs]

my so is currently deployed in afghanistan. if things are going normal then we usually can talk everyday. today is the third day that i havent talked to him and im starting to go insane to be honest, i miss him like crazyy. i dont worry as much anymore, i still worry everyday though, but in the beginning i was a wreck. the first two months are definately the hardest. he comes home in june so, he gets 30 days leave so i will be with him for a month i cant wait for that. after those 30 days, we can see eachother couple times a month but he will have his cell so we can talk all the time.

communication depends on where is he. if he goes on a patrol or mission then there is no communication until he returns. that can drive someone insane. technology has improved so much that you should be able to talk to him frequently though.

[vintagevinyl]

Hi! I'm new here and my relationship is both military and long distance. The reason I say this is because we're not just doing the distance thing when he is deployed, but we also have to do it while he is stateside because he is stationed on the other side of the country

He's in the US Marines and we successfully survived an entire deployment last year (he was deployed to Afghanistan). My boyfriend is infantry so he had to go off the wire for some time. It really depends on your SO's job in the military to determine how much you'll communicate. When he was deployed, he only got online a couple times per week (for up to an hour if he was lucky). Then he was able to use the phones once or twice a week as well. Just a warning, those calls could have lasted anywhere between 5 minutes to one hour. When he was outside the wire, he had satellite phones and the time we were able to talk varied as well. Another thing that sucked was that the phones absolutely sucked in quality. It was really difficult to hear him half the time (very mumbled/staticy) and it cut off many times (which is awful because obviously you can't call back). I won't lie- the lack of communication was HARD. I went an entire month without any phone contact, and 3 weeks with zero contact of any form. The thing that helps is writing a LOT of letters, so it feels like you can still talk to him on a daily basis even if he can't respond back right away. It's hard, but it's doable and it really made our relationship stronger. We had to work around a limited amount of communication so it really made us appreciate each other. Before he deployed, we were still doing the long distance thing so we already appreciated our limited physical time together, but it's a whole different story when they are deployed and you can't just pick up the phone to call whenever you want. Every situation is unique though. For example, I only was able to skype with him one time during his last week of deployment. If your SO ends up with a job where he gets to be on the computer a lot and not involved in actual combat in the desert, then you can email/IM/Skype on a daily basis. Some couples get the privilege to talk daily, multiple times a day, while some couples have to go days, weeks, and sometimes months without communication.

By the way, he's stateside now and we're still happy and together If you love each other enough you can get through anything. We're still on opposite ends of the country for a majority of the time, but we talk daily via phone, text, IM, and Skype. If he isn't deployed, it's just like any other long distance relationship.

Oh, and I don't know how the Canadian military works, but in the states they get 30 days of leave. If they get deployed, they usually get 2 weeks each of post and pre deployment leave. Also, if they are deployed for a year or more, they usually get 2 weeks of "R&R" leave to come home somewhere in between that time. When he is stateside, he can come visit whenever he gets time off... And you can visit him as much as you want depending on how much you're willing to spend for travel. We just got done spending 5 weeks together after he came home (I went back to base with him for a couple weeks). We probably won't see each other again until summer, but that can always change.

[SarahLouiise]

Im in a long distance relationship.. I live in London, SO lives in Texas.. Not only are we dealing with the distance.. But hes being deployed to Afghanistan on tuesday!!.. I have no idea what to expect.. Since the day we met online weve messaged each other atleast 50times a day.. I know ill probably be lucky to get 1 message a day once he leaves.. Im going to find this so hard .. Us talking everyday is what makes this LDR easier.. Now i wont even get that..
On the news yesterday there was a story about a solider being killed in Afghanistan.. Well i watched it & cried so much.. Im worried sick & hes not even left yet.. Im hoping its just until the summer so i can go over there once hes back.

[rivi87]

[B]How often do you talk to your SO when they are out doing their thing?[/B
My boyfriend is a Tank platoon leader. when he's training, communication become much more less...but he lets me know he's thinking about me

How do you comunicate?
When he's training just by phone

How often do you see them?
right now every 2-3 months. That being said he's deploying soon

Do you always worry about your SO when they are out?
Not yet..Im sure when he deploys I will be concerned quite a bit...

[Rach321]

My SO is a Navy Veteran, but he just spent 13 months in Afghanistan as a contractor. He's coming back on Thursday!!!

Currently worried about him because he left Afghanistan on Friday, but haven't heard from him since he arrived in Dubai for some transition time (the company he works for doesn't allot for readjustment time, but as a Veteran who has already experienced deployments, he felt it was important that he has some time to readjust before coming home).

We were able to communicate more than I thought we would (when he left, he couldn't promise me that he'd even have internet). But as others have said, it's not uncommon for internet/phone service to go out for periods of time. I really struggled when he first left, but then I learned not to worry so much. Strangely, these past few weeks I've been really nervous as well.

The hardest part was learning that I needed to continue with my life. I would stay in, or stay up late, just in case he would call, which meant that I was really lonely and missing out on life for the first several months he was gone. Then when I would go out and miss a call, I would feel like I was letting him down because I wasn't there for him. I eventually got used to it, but it was really hard.

I wrote to him a lot, put together some awesome care packages that took a lot of time and thought. Basically, anything I could do that made me happy and helped me to feel closer to him.

I just want him to get here already!!!

Best wishes to all of you!