Today, a great portion of our country is populated by military families. The remaining portion consists of the civilian population, without whom, the military would not be needed. Many people have the wrong idea about military life. Some people think that members of the military get paid more than they actually do, and others think that it is a horrible lifestyle. There are many differences between the military and civilian lifestyles; yet there are many similarities as well. The issues at hand can range from pay, to health benefits, to politics and beliefs. Below, a few of these issues will be addressed.
First of all, one of the major deciding factors for almost everyone (when it comes to a job) is health care. A military family is basically unilaterally covered for any medical emergency or circumstance. There are some things they don’t cover; like elective procedures such as plastic surgery. For other medical elective procedures, such as sterilization, there are specifications and regulations to be met, but the procedure can be covered. Dental needs are also covered, but for a low cost. The average cost for military dental coverage is twenty-five dollars a month for the whole family, which covers two cleanings a year and sixty to eighty percent of dental work. In the civilian world, there are many who go into heavy debt because of unexpected medical bills.
A great many people cannot afford medical insurance for their children or themselves, and this injustice causes terrible suffering for so many people; not to mention political turmoil over how it would be best to create healthcare that would be available to everyone. Civilian insurance also has limitations for pre-existing conditions and having certain conditions can get someone turned down for coverage. This problem does not exist in the military world- as they have elected that the health of not only the soldiers is of utmost importance, but also the health and well-being of their families.
If asked what the best benefit of the military is, a soldier and his family will probably answer that it’s the job security. A soldier does not have to worry about getting fired; they bring home a guaranteed paycheck that does not depend on hours. In the civilian world, even garnering a job doesn’t guarantee a paycheck. However, a soldier cannot quit his job if he doesn’t like it, whereas a civilian is free to leave their job at will.
For many soldiers and their families the lifestyle of the military is another world. Life on a military post is uniform. The houses look alike, the people look and dress alike, and every day is much the same as the one before. There are also many restrictions on a military installation- such as identification checks coming through the gate, yard maintenance requirements, and every pet must have an identification chip. Also you must always be careful where you park; the higher ranking officers have designated spots everywhere.
Although the soldier is the one who is part of the military, the family is large part of it as well. Only a military wife will know the acronyms like TDY and CIF that are constantly thrown around. Only a military child will tell you, “My daddy’s in Iraq.” without blinking an eye. In this world that may sometimes seem to isolate and suffocate, a military wife will be thankful for other military families that she has come to know. These families will be your support when the going gets rough and no one else understands.
The civilian world is a world that most everyone knows. To a soldier who wants out of military life, the civilian world has only one word they yearn for- freedom. There are many things about life in the civilian world that many take for granted, such as seeing your children grow and the differences and personality of everything around you. The most important aspect of civilian life that military personnel miss out on is their family. Your family is a part of you, and most people require the support of their families to survive. Soldiers who are deployed can miss a year or eighteen months of their family’s lives. Civilians likely take for granted waking each morning to see their baby boy grow a little larger, whereas someone in the military might leave an infant on assignment, and come back to a walking, talking toddler.
The military life allows its families opportunities that some may never have. One of these opportunities is getting to see the world; the military has overseas tours in places like Germany, Alaska, Hawaii, and Korea. People in the civilian world pay a lot of money to go on vacation and see these places. Not only can you choose where you want to live (most of the time), but the military pays all moving expenses, including mileage, food, displacement, and temporary housing.
Many civilian jobs have branches elsewhere and allow you to move location, but most of the time this isn’t feasible. After getting a location, there is moving to worry about, and it is expensive. Also, finding a place to live could be a problem at first. All in all, in the civilian life, seeing the world is a very hard thing to make happen.
Finally we address a very important factor in the life of a military family- war. War is the main reason that people are not joining or re-enlisting in the service. Nobody wants their husband or wife to go away to war, but today it is inevitable that they will. Some civilians may have loved ones overseas, but the war is very different from a civilian versus military perspective. Living on a military post, there are soldiers coming home, continual funerals happening on base, or even things as dramatic as watching your neighbor receive the news that her husband will not be returning home from war. Civilians see newspapers and the news, and may have loved ones in the war, but nothing in the civilian world can possibly compare to the raw exposure to the war that living on a military base offers.
There are many differences between the civilian world and the military world. Each sphere has its own advantages and disadvantages, some more pronounced than others. The issues of health care, job security, freedoms, traveling, and war have all been addressed; however, in reality, this is barely the tip of the iceberg. Each lifestyle has so many differences and similarities it would be impossible to cover them without writing a novel. Hopefully, this very brief exploration into the worlds of military and civilian life shed some light on the differences in lifestyles. Additionally, anyone on the civilian world may recognize the freedoms that they have that they don’t even think about, that are provided for them. George Orwell perhaps said it best, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
