For me, it was totally worth it. I’m hard headed, thick skinned, independent, loud, and don’t know when to stop beating my head against a brick wall. I am good at paperwork and can stand a fair amount of BS from The System. I survived the USMC not too badly, although I admit, I did not get the full indoctrination – My Marine was on his last two years when we married. Still, I have had to put up with the Marine Corps way of thinking since day one, and nearly 20 years later, it doesn’t seem like it will go away. I’ve learned to accept it and move on (for the most part, any way… did I mention I am hard headed?).
Don’t marry your Marine if you think you want to be the Center of His Universe. You aren’t. You won’t ever be. But it’s OK. You’ll be the only woman in his life, and he’ll love you dearly – you just will not be the Most Important Thing in All Creation to him. You’ll get to see him in those gorgeous Dress Blues on your wedding day. Watch him work out in those cute little red shorts. Maybe go to the firing range on his day off and watch him plunk bullets into the middle of a target for hours on end. Perhaps you’ll follow him around the country or the globe. He’ll love you to bits, yes, but you better have a hobby or two for when he is with his mistress (the USMC, not another woman, silly).
Don’t marry a Marine if you know you’re a wimp – unless you really intend on developing a strong, independent, hard headed streak. I don’t mean you have no muscles or are tiny boned or short. I mean if you don’t have Thick Skulls somewhere in your family lineage, you are probably better off marrying a normal man. Men test your patience to begin with. Your Marine has 100s of years of Warrior Men behind him to teach him how to be a Real Pain in The Neck.
In this age of War In The Middle East, it’s pretty scary to be contemplating marrying a Marine, I would think. You Marine is a Warrior. Don’t beg him to stay when he needs to volunteer to ship out to Iraq. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. Means he is compelled; he has A Calling; he can’t help himself. What he will need is a smart, independent woman who will be able to make do with whatever life throws her while he is in The Sand Box – so he doesn’t have to worry if she knows how to pay bills or get the oil changed – so he can concentrate on the War and on Staying Alive.
Be aware that the paperwork for anything with the Marines is a nightmare – and you, being the one with the Power of Attorny, will be the one doing all of it – NOT your Marine. You will sign your name, his name and make endless copies. Even if they don’t require copies, make copies of everything for your self and know where you put it. For all its wisdom, the USMC often loses things at the most inconvenient times. Your copies are your saviors.
If you’re considering marrying what they call a “Lifer”, consider even more carefully what you do. Lust is great. Lust with a Marine is really great. But Love is more than chemistry and what happens between the sheets. And sometimes you will feel like you are the only one working on the relationship – and you will be right – and you will have to accept that as The Way It Is… or you can go crazy… or divorce Your Marine.
Would I do it again? In less than a heartbeat. Would I recommend it to anyone I know. Absolutely Not.
The only thing tougher than a Marine is – His Wife!
Bless our Troops and Those Who Wait for Them, for They also serve.
