FNG1

How is the life of a civillian spouse in the AF?.....I'm not married, but is something that surely will come with life and I always wonder what would someone who went to college and wants to have a productive life do, if it gets married with an air force guy.

Doing Rotc at this point

planecrazyjenn

I am an air force wife, however I am also in the air force. Having been deployed, I do understand the lifestyle of one in the military...and the unfortunate bullcrap that comes with it. He retires in 5 years, and I'm very happy about that. I couldn't stay married to someone in the military for 20 years, however many women do...and do just fine. Everytime he even mentions the idea of a trip my heart drops. But you do mention how a civilian wife would take this. Like I said earlier, I'm also in the military - Guard, but still...I understand why we joined in the first place. For someone not in the military, I would imagine this would only be harder...especially once children get involved.

1Seat 1Engine

Spouses in the USAF has it's own set of challenges. Something will have to give eventually.

My advice would be NOT be married to another service member. In fact, I think it's difficult to be married to anyone who has a full time career and be in the military.

Not that "logic" typically makes a differences in these situations. Just saying that it's not an easy road.

TankerDriver

Your spouse/family will be at the mercy of Uncle Sam, just like you will be. Don't want to move again? Too bad: Needs of the Air Force come before needs of your family. Plan on moving every 3-4 years. It's not going to be easy if your wife is a professional, unless she has a career in something that is easier to find (nursing comes to mind). Most of the Air Force wive's I knew (including my own) didn't have much of a choice in employment. The Air Force has a habit of putting bases in sparse areas. There are lots of house wives in the military with lots of kids to keep them busy. There are lots of groups and activities on base for military families. Most spouses will have their clubs and hobbies to keep them busy, but depending on the spouse, military life may drive them crazy. This was a major factor in my decision for leaving active duty for the Air National Guard.

Kikuchiyo

Like TankerDirver said, you and your family are at the mercy of Uncle Sam. I'm retiring at the end of this month, and my wife & I have been married 17 yrs. It's been insanely hard at times. Each assignment has it's own challenges. My year in Korea without her or the boys was incredibly tough for her, as have been the repeated deployments over the last few years.

She was active duty when we met, and we had to make assignment decisions based on where we could be together, and initially had to wait about a year before she could get assigned to my first base. Then she got out and picked up a job as a civil servant. That worked out very well for a few assignments, since the AF always seemed to need her specialty wherever we went. Nursing, teaching, or vet tech tend to be very portable jobs. I know guys whose wives are lawyers or doctors, but it's quite hard for them to keep moving and changing their licenses, practices, etc. Whatever a spouse chooses to do, a major consideration has to be how easy is it going to be to pack it all up and move somewhere either "sparse" (I like that, TD), or even overseas. When the time comes to go to Okinawa for 3 years, will she be able to find something fullfilling to do with her time.

(Disclaimer: yes, all pronouns referring to spouses above are female. But the thoughts apply equally to male spouses of female military members. There's just so many fewer of the later.)

Panel Monkey

My wife has a job in civil service and is able to transfer when we PCS, at least that has worked so far. Work aside, the other aspects are extremely challenging, like others have said, the AF member spends alot of time away from home, that's just how it is. We miss alot of things happening to our children as they grow up. For every upside there is a downside.