Expository

Being a Single Mother in the Military

When I joined the military, I pictured my life as a single sailor. I would finish boot camp and go places that I only dreamed of. I would sail the high seas and pull into ports such as Germany and Australia. I never quite made it to those places. You see, when you are a single mother in the military, it can get complicated.

Four years ago, being a mother never crossed my mind. But somewhere in between boot camp and training for my school, I found myself pregnant. The news of this was shocking to my command, my family, and most of all to me. I knew from that moment that my military career had taken a turn. There were going to be no extravagant ports for me to see.

I was never treated any different for becoming pregnant. In fact, my command embraced my decision and helped me every step of the way. After finishing boot camp and initial training, I was able to choose orders to Virginia Beach, VA. I lucked up by being able to stay on shore duty to finish out my pregnancy and begin a life as a mother.

My luck wasn’t the same for other mothers. I had seen mothers have to leave their children behind while they went overseas. You even saw some females getting pregnant so they wouldn’t have to go anywhere. The females who chose that route still wound up leaving a year after they had their children. My pregnancy wasn’t planned but I wasn’t planning to leave my child either.

Imagine the look on your child’s face when they are waiving bye to you on that big ship. That ship is taking mommy away for a long time. In that time that child is growing up and you are missing those milestones. You can call home as often as you like, if the ship’s line isn’t down, but you don’t get to see or touch your child for months! I wanted to go on a ship, but I wanted to see my son everyday and that meant way more to me.

For the next two years, I worked in an office through my pregnancy and the first year of raising my son. I then had to choose new...