Keeping up Morale: Rule #2

Maybe Rule #1 and Rule #2 should be the same rule and not two separate ones. Both run along a common theme, I suppose, but I keep them separate to avoid oversimplifying. Making them a single rule would be SO easy to do and would consist of four little words, but let's face it: stating that the key to keeping up morale is to SHUT THE FUCK UP is way too vague and doesn't begin to hit all the fine nuances that Rules #1 and #2 bring up.

SO here is Keeping up Morale Rule #2: Do not tell your husband about every little thing that goes wrong or upsets you here on the homefront. I don't mean that you can't tell him that the baby is teething or that the kids are sick. It takes some thought and requires effort on our parts, but we wives need to limit our sharing of what is going on to things that are not going to cause him to panic.

Here's a good example of what I mean. The tranny drops out of your car. Normally, your husband would handle this issue, right? So you tell him about it. Suddenly, there is a husband and father who is deployed worrying about how his family is going to take care of getting the car fixed and getting where they need to go. So again, a distracted soldier. A distracted soldier is a soldier who can cause KIAs and WIAs, or end up being one himself. Long and short of it is: if the tranny drops out of the car, tell him about it after you've gotten it fixed!

My primary point in all this is somple. We are the wives of deployed soldiers who have to be mom, dad, comforter, disciplinarian, driver, chef, accountant, repairman, and coordinator for our families and I promise, if we can do this alone, there is not a crisis that can come up that we can't handle. Our husbands may be bad-asses, but the world had better brace itself for the Army wife. Army wives are a force of nature when the situation calls for it.

So, stay calm ladies and keep the stuff that will really worry your husband to yourself. I know it's hard not to vent at him, but his morale and the safety of our boys has GOT to be the first and only priority. I cannot say this enough: keep your damn mouth shut. If you can do this very simple thing, you will be following both my rules for morale and all the men should be able to do their jobs and come home safe and sound. Isn't that the goal?