1. Dont count on anything! Hurry up and wait!
2. Don´t listen to anyone on the outside. All you will get is negative remarks, which will make things harder for you to deal with.
3. When he becomes stubborn and a pain in the ass, just remind yourself that he´s probably had a bad day, and being away from you is hard on him too. So just let him rant and dont take it personal.
4. When you´re down, treat yourself.
5. Learn how to listen, if you don´t know how! He will need you. You will be the one he comes to when he needs to empty his mind. That is what we are here for! This is a hard time forour men and they need us much more than they think they do.
6. Love your man, be truthful and reassure him, even if he´s deployed, he´ll have someone to come back to.
7. He will try to pull away at some point, whether directly telling you to move on and not wait for him or just becoming too distant. Its a way they try to deal with it, a defense mecanism. Stick with him because he really does want (and need) you there.
8. When he is away for a long time, write a lot of letters! Communication is key to a relationship.
9. He needs to feel important so dont hold back on the compliments-remind him how proud you are of what he does.
10. Chances are they won´t call when they say they will. That especially applies for deployed!
11. Don´t buy that non-refundable airplane ticket too early.
12. Never take 1 single Minute with them for granted. Live each day with them like it is the last one you´ll have for a while because with the military, it just might be.
13. Take lots and lots of pictures so you can remember what each other looks like.
14. Don´t even TRY to compare your man to an ordinanry civilian men. You can no longer be angry about broken plans, that phone call you were suppose to get but didn´t, missed birthdays and anniversaries, his snoring (hey, at least he´s sleeping BESIDE you), spending more time with "the boys" than you, etc. etc.
15. Always look on the bright side of things. How many of your friends get to get theire 1st encounter, 1st date, 1st kiss from their man over and over again?
16. Being a military girlfriend/wife/fiance/mother is a very tough job. You have to deal with stress more then the average civilian girl. Have hope.
17. Patience is the biggest key to making the relationship work. You have to wait a lot, but in the end, waiting is what makes it all worthwhile