Tuesday a special L.I.N.K.S. session was held just for TBS spouses. L.I.N.K.S. is a volunteer based program run by other military spouses and is designed to provide a basic orientation to the Marine Corps lifestyle and help family members understand and adapt to the unique challenges military life often presents.
TONS of information. VERY OVERWHELMING!
I knew some of the basic stuff. I know a lot of the common acronyms, I know about uniforms, and I can identify a lot of the rank insignias. Thank you google, wikipedia, and my desire to have a clue. However, there is so much available to Marine Corps families! Having a military ID is like an instant access pass to LOTS of discounts...if you know about them. From moving to deployment to grocery shopping at the commissary there are so many tips and my brain went on overload trying to retain it all. I think getting to know some more experienced Marine Corps wives will help and I think once we do this for a while I'll get the hang of it. But initially it's a lot. I feel like once he gets his orders for our next duty station it'll be like I have two full time jobs. Not looking forward to that.
However, while it was an information overload it was a lot of fun and WONDERFUL to meet other TBS wives. A bunch of them live in my apartment complex and I'm hopeful that we'll develop great friendships and be able to go through this together. Most of the other wives don't work, so that's both hard and humbling for me. It's difficult because they can spend there days just hanging out, while I have to work. But while I wish I could just hang out, they wish they had jobs and weren't bored all the time. I'm very fortunate to have something to fill my time during the day and provide income. They were a very nice reminder of that.
From what I can tell TBS is a lot like college in that the Family Readiness Office plans lots of different events for spouses. In two weeks, there's a spouses orientation specifically for TBS Delta Co. and I'm excited to go to that. I think it'll really prepare me for what his training will be like and I'll meet the wives of the men that Nate spends most of his time with. Hopefully welcome to TBS is less overwhelming than welcome to the Marine Corps :)
Me after "graduating" from L.I.N.K.S. with Colonel Smith and Sergeant Major Pickering, the Commanding Officer and Sergeant Major of TBS!
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