Quote: Quote: I just read through this and it gave me the "warm fuzzies". I was an AF brat and then married into the Army. When I got divorced, I didn't miss him, I missed my lifestyle. It was a real culture shock to become a civilian! Quote: You might be a Military Brat if... - "move in condition" never meets your definition of clean. - you find it shocking that some Americans do not know the Pledge of Allegiance. - by the age of 10, you knew how to convert at least one foreign currency to U.S. dollars. - the church you attended during childhood offered both Protestant and Catholic services. - you always considered yourself an American; hyphenated versions were not part of your vocabulary. - it's a daunting task to obtain transcripts from every school you've ever attended. - you've fed at least 10 stray dogs and cats at each house you ever lived in. (Spay/neuter please!) - whatever you're doing and wherever you are, you stop dead in your tracks and stand straight at attention when you hear "Taps". - the term "permanent address" is an oxymoron. - not even a professional shoe shine can match your work. - before a ballgame, you stand at attention for the National Anthem, even if you're alone in your living room. - "friendship" means we knew each other at some point. - your childhood friends were Christians, Buddhists, Jews, black, white, brown, and you never noticed a difference. - you know at least one international access number and five U.S. area codes. - you stop your car on a highway and walk through mud to pick up an American flag that has blown off somebody's car. - you know what a "regulation haircut" is. - the sight of a "Bekins" or "Mayflower" truck makes your stomach turn. - your dad went on a "Med cruise" without your mother. - your childhood memories include Duraglit, Brasso, liquid starch and Kiwi shoe polish. - your dad was called into his C.O.'s office because of some stupid stunt you pulled at school. - you never got to take any second level class (i.e., French II, German II, Biology II) because it wasn't offered at your new school. - you have to fight the urge to smack the hat off the guy in front of you in the bleachers during the National Anthem. - acronyms don't confuse you. - your childhood neighborhood had a "Yard of the Month" award. - you figured out when you were eight that the U.S. ZIP codes progressed from low in the northeast to highest in the west. - the term "mess" is a synonym for "untidy" and "food". - an armed M.P. flagged you into your neighborhood. - you don't know what to say when people ask you "Where are you from?" - none of your high school yearbooks are from the same school. - you ever wrote to your dad at an A.P.O. or F.P.O. - you can't imagine having a friend for more than 3 years. - your neighborhood promoted safe driving by arranging wrecked cars with "bloody", mangled mannequins in high-traffic areas. - you don't have many momentos from your childhood because they were lost in some move or other. - you shopped at a PX. - your family's living room contained a high-tech German stereo system, Italian designer leather sofa & chair, elegent Japanese dolls in glass cases; you had a maid, and your mother's clothes were tailor made, but back in the States, your family was considered "low income". - you spent your summers at the base pool, in the base bowling alley, and playing in the sprinkler or on the "Slip 'N Slide". - "the economy" means going off-base and paying higher local prices. - by the age of 10, your shot record was more than a page long. I just read this, and it made me cry, my Father retired from the army was I was 15, and I'm 28 now and I still remember most of these. YOU MIGHT BE A ARMY BRAT IF....... *explaining to non-Army Brat how it was to move every 3 years.

Quote: Because those are our 'homes'. All we knew growing up. I have always thought it would be 'kewl' if they would take the bases they have shut down and made them into retirement communities for us brats and our military parents. Keep the PX and commissary for us, etc. That way, we'd have our 'roots' that we miss in the civilian world. Thanks so much for the post and I envy you living in 'base housing'! ~Kath