Month of the Military Child Essay: If you are a military child

By Brandon Dake
Patch Middle School, 6th Grade

You might ask yourself sometimes, “What does it mean to be a military child?”

Well, if you are a military child, you probably have to move a lot. Usually every two-to-four years. As a military child you will have flown on tons of planes, and traveled to lots of different places. If you live in the States though, and you are not connected to the military, you probably have only flown a few times, if at all.

If you are a military child, then you probably have made and lost friends a lot of friends. If you are in the military you move a lot. When you leave your home and have to go to another place, you are probably really sad because you have to leave your best friends and you might not ever see them again. You can stay in touch with them though by getting their phone number or email. However, when you get to your new home, you will make lots and lots of more friends who might even be better than your old ones.

If you are a military child, you get to travel a lot, and at some point you will probably live in Europe or Asia. When you live in these foreign countries, you will get to travel way more than if you lived in the States. Most people who live in the States spend their whole lives saving up to go to Paris or some cool city. If you’re a military child though, you can just go to these places if you’re in Europe. By the time your ten, you will have traveled more places than some people have traveled in their whole entire lives.

If you are a military child, you might not get to see one of your parents, or even both, for a year or more because they have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. Your parent/parents might miss your birthday or Christmas because they are fighting to keep the USA safe.

If you are a military child, you probably can’t grow up around your aunts and uncles and grandparents because you don’t control where you live. If you weren’t in the military you could probably see them every weekend, but, because you are in the military you don’t get to visit them that much, so you love them even more when you do get to see them.

There are highs and lows of being a military child but in the end, you’re glad you are one.

Editor’s note: Essays from students across the Stuttgart military community are submitted to the School Liaison Office each March and published throughout the month of April on The Citizen, at the Panzer Main Exchange and read aloud on AFN Stuttgart radio to celebrate our military children in Stuttgart.