Saturday 8 January 2011

Why I'm Glad I'm an Air Force Brat

People sometimes ask me if I'm from Windsor. I tell them, "my dad was in the Air Force, I'm not sure where I'm from." Here's five more cool things about being a military brat:

1. I can tell military time. I don't have to subtract 12 after noon to calculate the hour. I use the 24-hour clock on my wristwatch. There's no misunderstanding what time of day it was if my notes say we met at 08:00 or at 20:00.

2. I respect authority. I may not like the person in authority. I may even publicly disagree in the decision making phase, but always respectfully and appropriately. In the end, when a decision is made I respect the office and move on. Authority is not a bad word, and neither is obedience.

3. I like hierarchy; another word for it is accountability. Reportability (I made that word up). Answerability. (I didn't make that word up but is nevertheless not a word). Support.

4. I may not like some of the dumb things my team mates do, and they definitely do not like some of the dumb things I do, but even military children know that no matter how we feel about each other, we stand together against all external challengers.

5. I learned at an early age how to make really good friends and then move on at a moment's notice when our dads got transferred. Sure, there were tears, but they were soon replaced by laughter with new friends. We learned early a welcoming attitude towards others. This skill has served me well in the hospitality industry.

Next time - why I'm glad I was a Sea Cadet in my teenage years.

2 comments:

  1. Another cool thing I've found is a sense of adventure. You probably don't remember the time we were driving through France on our way back from England. We stopped at a restaurant for a meal, and I had to act as translator for us all (me with my grade 5 or 6 French). There wasn't really a menu to order from, it was 'here's the meal of the day, eat it, you'll like it!'

    I think being comfortable traveling anywhere is also something we learned. Our Sunday drives all over the Black Forest, visits to the Basel Zoo ("it's a lion!") and even living off base for a while gave us the ability to speak to anyone, even if we didn't speak the same language.

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  2. As for me I am glad I was an Ambulance Drivers daughter.
    I learned the same values and that's pretty cool.

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