Families

Families are really important. You never really know how much they mean to you until you are away from yours. As a father and husband, I don't really spend that much time at home, in comparison to work, but when you don't have that daily time to even see your family it makes a big difference. The internet and all it's wonders do make partially up for the isolation, but there is still a dimension which is missing. The military does place you into another family, it is somewhat different, your father is a commander, and depending upon his/her leadership style it may be more or less like the father you have, wished you had, or glad you did not. The people around you are like your brothers and sisters and extended family. They will bend over backwards for each other. You spend an aweful lot of time with them doing the normal things like eating and living, relaxing and exercising. It's still not the same, but there is a bond that you make with the military members around you which is unique and not fully explainable unless you have been there also. I guess both families take care of each other, just at the end of the deployment you'll have a whole nother group of people that you consider family, but you just will never go back to a similar situation with them.