Did you learn any moves from the River Dancers?

It is so good to be back in the USA! I absolutely LOVE to travel and am looking forward to a tip to the Ukraine in August...but I missed my internet connection and cell phone!! We spent 23 days in Canada hauling the Riverdance Tour around! I met sooo many wonderful people! I had to laugh though...I was the ONLY brat in my group of drivers...,and I was the ONLY one who thoroughly enjoyed our stay! Canada is not exactly "abroad" but I know that my experiences growing up helped me to make all kinds of friends! I am thankful that I can quickly "fit it." I imagine its like that for all brats! We never know how long we will be in one place, so we grab all the gusto and good times we can...and cherish them! I do anyway! I had a great time and met lovely people! I look forward to my next trip up to the Great White North!!

Interesting.  Especially since I was born at the very beginning of the Vietnam War.

You are most welcome Galadrial! I go by Phil (my middle name)-- John is is my first name which my parents never used because my Dad is also John. Yes this is a wonderful idea. We are from the same generation-- I read the term "Cold War brats" once-- that is us! Me too I can't imagine being anything else-- civilian life will always be a little bit alien to me. Best, Phil

Thank you so very much for your very kind words.

I am 43 years old, so we are close in age.

I believe Military Brats are a subculture in this world.    I cannot image being anything else.

P.S. Thanks to Galadriel for creating this space-- what a fantastic idea! 

Hi everyone,

It's great to see a community of military brats on the net like this! I was an Air Force brat (my Mom was too). My dad was in the USAF from the time I was born until I was about 17.

We moved a lot until I was 10 (7 major moves and 11 houses/apartments in a total of three countries-- France, Germany and the USA) and then after Vietnam the Air Force slowed down moves for many of its familes for a while-- and we so stayed put in Maryland after that-- although Dad remained in the military and the base remained an important part of our lives.  

Dad was a POW in Korea and also served in Vietnam. Although Korea was before I came along, I vividly remember the year that my father was in Vietnam-- I knew other kids who's dads were casualties, but Dad made it back, thankfully.

My Mom was also a military brat-- she attended 18 different schools by the time she was 18 years old-- Her father was in the Army Air Corps (which eventually became the Air Force) for a total of 40 years.    

Anyway-- all of the good stuff from all of these experiences, (plus all of the hard stuff) shaped and permeated our lives in many ways.

It's good to be here and see posts from so many other fellow brats!! I only very rarely come across other brats in my life-- but I always feel an immediate bond, regardless of service branch. 

We really are an invisible subculture!

Best to all,

Phil Murray

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

First of all, I will be spending Valentine's morning at the hospital.  My husband has to be at Presbetarian-Shadyside Hospital by 6:30 in the morning for a colonoscopy.  He jokes that he is going to ask the doctor if he is going to get flowers afterwards.

In the meantime, I am struggling to breath with this "bug" that has gotten into my chest, throat, sinus.  I am even breaking out with a huge fever blister on my cheek. 

While I have been sick, housework has gotten neglected.

I do not have time to be sick.  This flu sucks!!!

To top it off, I need to do research, as I still have not decided whom I am voting for in April, let alone November.

And I am still job hunting.

And I am really behind in these forums.  I apologize for that.

Anyone have any ideas on how to kill a flu bug...or at least drive the blasted thing out of me?  I am really sick of being sick.

My mom phoned on Saturday.

My brother used to be in the Army, and was sent to Panama & Honduras.  He did not come back the same person.  It was as though a part of himself is still back in Central America.

Well, my brother went and joined the Army again, but the Army rejected him because my brother ripped his eardrum in a diving accident (at least that is what my mom told me).

Well, it turns out that the Army reserves recently phoned my brother and told me brother that he was in.  My brother is 41 years old.

My mom is terrified because it is the reserves that are usually sent to Iraq these days, and she remembers what Panama & Honduras did to my brother.  She is terrified my brother will be killed in Iraq.

I reassured my Mom that John (my brother) made it through Honduras & Panama, and that maybe going to Iraq will help him fight some of his demons from Honduras and Panama.  My mom agreed, but I don't think she really bought it, since I don't really buy it.

Thanks for letting me get this out.

My husband is in Chihuahua, Mexico right now, and I pick him up at the airport on Friday.  It is weird.  He said he could get a ride home, but I insisted that I want to pick him up.  I wonder if it has anything to do with meeting my dad at his ship when it arrived.

I remember once, we drove from Cape May to Atlantic City to see my dad when his ship docked for a short respite. 

She also kept my passport for "safe keeping"

I do not remember how old I was when I got my "green card" (that was the color of the ID).

What I miss now is having a card to use to get into the Exchange.  I loved going to the exchange to buy clothes and perfumes.

Usually, for us, there was something that got left, or broken in the move.

I remember on the move from Italy to Ohio, our stuff got lost in customs.  My parents literally slept on the floor because our furniture had not arrived yet.  We had to wait months for our stuff to get to us, then hope it was not broken or missing.

I have said goodbye so many times, and had stuff dissapear in transition that I am not really good not being attached to "stuff".

I have good news.

I have my travel arrangements set

I will leave Pittsburgh at 5:55 a.m. Wednesday and fly American Airlines 4114 to Chicago, reaching Chicago at 6:40 a.m.  then leave Chicago at 7:25 a.m. on flight 3977 to Grand Rapids, Michigan where my dad will pick me up at 9:10 a.m.

The people at American Airlines were really nice, and they have a barevement (sp?) charge, so it only cost $261.60 for a round trip.  Plus she was really sweet and set me up with window seats.

I am scheduled to be in Michigan for a week, but she said I can change the return time at no extra charge.

My dad told me that my great-aunt will be buried next to "grandma", so I was thinking my grandma when he meant his grandma.

I have to think what to take and what is allowed on the plane.  I have not flown since 1998.

It is weird...now that travel arrangements are set, and I am not scrambling, I have time to realize that my great-aunt is actually dead.  Every Christmas, she gave each of us kids a scarf and mittens.  And when we lived in Italy, she sent us chocolates and popcorn.  And of my family, my great-aunt Elva and my grandmother were the only ones who ever visited me when I lived in Texas.  My great-aunt Elva is the last of that generation.

Whenever we would complain about a food item, my great-aunt Elva would tell us how one pig fed their entire family for a year, and they were grateful for it.

She just turned 80 years old, and now I have to say "good-bye" to her.

  My great-aunt died yesterday.  The funeral is Thursday in Hastings, Michigan at Wren Funeral Home.  My husband has to work, so I have been spending the last 2 days trying to figure out how to get from Perryopolis, PA to Hastings, MI.  I can get to Chicago, IL easily, but getting from Chicago to Hastings isn't so easy.  Southwest Airlines can fly me from Pittsburgh to Chicago for only $115.40.  I am still working on the rest of the journey.  I thought of taking a train to Battle Creek, MI and having my dad pick me up there, but that means a 24 hour train ride with a layover in Chicago...and catching the train in Pittsburgh at midnight.  I thought of flying into Chicago and then taking the train from Chicago to Battle Creek Michigan, but I have no idea how far the airport is from the train station, and I do not know my way around Chicago.

I thought of renting a car, but they want a $400 to $500 deposit.

This is why I am neglecting the forums this week.

Right now, it looks like my best bet is to take the train from either Connellsville, PA or Pittsburgh, PA and to either Toledo, then take bus to Detroit, then train to Battlecreek or I can take a train to Chicago, and then transfer a train from Chicago to Battlecreek, Michigan.

I have never taken a train in the U.S. before.  The only time I ever rode a train was in Italy from Calabria to Rome in the late 1970's.  I have no idea what to expect.

It is weird when I tell people where I have lived, and they are amazed.  It is like I am a vagabond or something.

I had a passport weeks within being born.  For me, that is normal.

I also don't get all this "race" stuff many people talk about.  In the military, it was about rank, not ethnicity...and job.  I heard jobs about "boatsonmates" since my dad was an MK.  And I heard jokes about different branches of the service.  And I heard jokes about Warren officers being paper pushers.  But there was only one "race"...the human race. 

Is there anyone else who has a problem with this issue I see in so many people who were not raised military?