Keeping Your Marriage Strong

One of the concerns of military spouses is how to keep your marriage strong during a deployment or an extended time of separation (ex. training). My rule of thumb is don't get yourself into any situation you wouldn't have if your spouse were at home. Also, don't put yourself into any situation where someone could mistakenly imply that more is going on than there actually is. Do what you can to keep the rumors at a minimum or to keep the rumors from happening at all. My advice is to always to communicate with your spouse openly and honestly and to reassure them of your love for them.

One of the things I have done is to have an online/phone "date" with my husband. My husband and I both like to watch MMA fights. We found out that one of the fights was going to be televised at his MWR. I ordered the fight at the house. We talked on the phone/web cam about each fight after it occured. It wasn't the same as watching the fight at home together surrounded with our usual family and friends but it was still really nice.

The issue of marriage comes up quite a bit in military families. I found a very good article called Maintaining A Strong Relationship Through Deployments and Separations. Some of the things that have worked for me are also mentioned in the article.