marriage and the Army

Princess Dianna once said her marriage always had three people in it, I can very much relate to that statement, though in my own case the third person in my marriage is the Army.
As any military spouse can tell you the military takes precedence over everything, what is best for the mission will always come before what may be best for the family.  You learn that all plans must be flexible, that at anytime the Army (in my case) can step in and need something, thus changing your plans, a prime example is the upcomming trip home for my Grandmothers 90th birthday, even though my husband has over 70 days of leave and will soon hit the use or loose it point, and we made plans to attend several months ago the company came up on training orders and will be gone for a month right in the middle of the trip, my husband will most likely get to stay back on rear D, but he will still not be eligable to leave the area (though there is a small hope he can get a pass for his days off and fly up for just one day, thank goodness I work for an airline so that is possible) when we found this out I did not even get upset, disappointed yes, upset no, why because I know this is how it goes.
As an Army wife I quickly learned that there will be many times he will not be able to be there.  The Army is full of wives who have given birth to babies alone, spent Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays ect alone (or at least without their spouse) we learn to cope, we learn to do things oursleves we never thought we would, and best of all we learn to lean on each other.