Post Marine Corps Life…So Far

Jeremy officially picked up his DD214 last Friday and arrived in WI (with all of our household goods) on Monday!

So far, EAS life has been good to us. My job allows us the security to rent our own apartment and have a stable transition from the military. We even decided we could afford for Jeremy to get a new truck, something he has been wanting. Plus, the extra money we will get for moving ourselves is going to buy new couches and a living room set!

Jeremy has been attending numerous job interviews, and it seems like it won’t be a problem for him to get a job in his field. Unfortunately, the pay is less than we expected. Because his work in the military doesn’t transfer over to the civilian world (with certifications and such), he has to start at the bottom and work his way back up. It’s been frustrating for him, understandably, that his 6 years of experience mean nothing and he is being offered the same pay as young guys fresh out of school.

But there is a lot of potential for him to move up in the next few years, and he already has plans for college and what he needs to do to move his career to where he wants to be.

We now live two hours from Jeremy’s family, and we have been visiting almost every weekend. Next weekend is our nieces birthday party, it’s so nice to be able to attend! We have plans with his siblings to go camping/horse back riding, to a local Fall Festival, and just to get together to watch the game. Being back in WI close to family has been everything we hoped!

Jeremy hasn’t changed at all since getting out. I had hoped that he might be “happier” (not that he is mean or angry or anything…but the military was stressful), but his mood seems to be the same. I guess life/career/marriage is always stressful, even away from the military. But I suppose no change is better than a change for the worst!

In other bigs news…a few days after Jeremy went on Terminal, he was selected for E-6! He had put in for non-promotion, because he was getting out, but apparently the Marine Corps didn’t notice or didn’t care, and selected him anyway. Jeremy is conflicted over the selection; while part of him is happy for the recognition that he deserves E-6, he also knows that his selection took away a spot from someone else. I understand his feelings completely, but as a spouse, I’m leaning more towards being proud of him and happy for the selection; he deserved it! The downside being that he won’t actually get promoted, since he is on Terminal Leave. Bummer!

Babies Don’t Fix Broken Marriages

I don’t have any children, so for those that do, feel free to add in your opinions. I normally avoid having opinions on parenting and such; I feel that until I have experienced it I can’t really form a valid opinion. However, I do feel that I can {somewhat} confidently express my opinion that babies don’t fix broken marriages.

It seems like at least once a year I see a young couple (one that I know is having marital problems), “fixes” their issues and then immediately plans to get pregnant (and normally does).

I can perhaps understand the logic there: you have made it through a tough time with your spouse (infidelity, abuse, lying, etc.) and you feel that you have made it to the other side; feeling even closer to your partner than before. What not solidify this happy time and your newly committed marriage with a baby? Babies make everyone happy! {reading this back to myself, it sounds very sarcastic. However, as an editors note, it was not meant that way!}

Maybe I’m a pessimist…but my logic would go a little differently. “We were just at the verge of divorce. Let’s see if we can keep up a healthy marriage for another few years before we add in even more stress to such a fragile foundation”

It saddens me when I see couples “fixing” their bad relationships with a baby…because I’ve seen it fail. A child adds even more stress into a marriage, and if it’s already cracked, it’s just going to crumble under the pressure.

If anyone reading this has had a different experience, then I’m sincerely happy for you. But sadly, I don’t think it’s something that typically works out well for most people.