It's not your rank…

This has been a pet peeve of mine since long before I became an Army wife. The wife who wears her husband's rank. Or rather, the spouse who wears their spouse's rank. And I'm just going to be my typical non-diplomatic self.

It's not your rank.

You did not somehow simultaneously inhabit your husband's body when he signed up, slaved through basic, and worked his way up through the ranks. Yes, you might have supported him, you might have done his laundry, cooked his meals, stuck his patches on his ACUs, and laid out his pt gear for the morning. But that is simply not your rank.

If you want a rank that bad, if you define your life by the bars, stripes, and other insignia, then join up. Go the grunt work, struggle like every other service member did, and then wear your rank.

I most definitely appreciate the hard work and sacrifice it takes to be a military spouse. I will never again underestimate how hard it is to be the Army wife, and all the hardships we endure both during a deployment and after. But the Sergeant's career is not my own.

I can compare it this way; I'm pregnant as I type this. I do not expect the Sergeant to run around telling people he carried a baby to term, and then tell them he delivered the baby. Matter of fact, should I catch him saying something like that, I will personally cut off his privates and keep them until he learns to think before he speaks.

But whether your husband is a three star general, or a new private, the rank is not yours, it his. You dishonor his hard work, dedication, and sacrifice by taking something of his. Let him be the soldier.

~Jennifer

Re-Edit:
Yeah.. so I needed to edit that. My editor in chief was busy this morning, and I didn't send her the rough draft to re-read.

The Sergeant's Girl is a nickname I've had for quite some time, as I did not tell anyone his name when we were first dating. It was my mother who slipped and told someone he was a Sergeant in the Army, and thus, I became the Sergeant's Girl, because I still would not give anyone his name.

I did not think lowly of my husband when he was a private, in actuality, I didn't think of him at all, I did not know him when he was that rank, we were leading separate lives and hadn't even met yet. But I would have supported him as he was then, just like I support him as he is now. I used the term "lowly private" as a tongue in cheek description, as I've heard many many Army wives use that term in a derogatory fashion.

For the record.. no, my husband most certainly does not s&%t roses. He is an ordinary, everyday human being, who can piss me off at the drop of a hat, make me laugh, make me cry, and he puts his pants on the same way most of us do, one leg at a time.

And for those of you that don't like the blog, or don't agree with it… the response is what it always is, don't read it. I write this mainly for myself, and for a handful of people that asked me to do it. It's published because it's easier for those that wanted it to read it.