FlyBoy1993,
Congrats on your anniversary.
Back on topic and something that posters have not addressed yet from the OP's question, but something that impacts every marriage.
globalview2 said:
Is it more difficult or the same difficulty to raise kids and have a family? What are your experiences?
It is IMPO harder because your mate walked down the aisle freely electing to be a military spouse, your children did not.
Bullet and I have 3 children, and the least amount of schools they attended from Pre-K to HS was 8 schools in 6 different states over 14 yrs. The longest they stayed in one place was just under 32 months, shortest 6 months.
Additionally, as much as you may turn off the tv so they don't see what's happening, they get it. Bullet missed every halloween from when DS2 was 4 months old to when he was 8. He was not there for 1st Holy Communion. He missed Thanksgiving. He missed countless birthdays, father-daughter dances, etc.
We dealt with kids crying and telling us "they hate us for making them move".
It can be a stress on your marriage, especially if the spouse also has a career.
Kids get older, and moving them in HS because the military says so, becomes even harder since they have to start life over again, and realistically many of their peers have been friends since they played T-ball.
Their relationships between siblings IMPO is different than the relationship their peers have with siblings that never move. When you move it takes months to make new friends, siblings are their only friends. Siblings are the only ones to understand your life.
When they get to hs/college, that life is now an asset. All of the sudden it is a cool factor... i.e. You were born in England? You lived in Alaska? Your parent was deployed to Korea/Iraq/Afghanistan?
Just remember kids pay it forward, and so will you as parents. That means you and your spouse need to provide a united front on how great it will be to live in Kansas for a yr! How their teenage love is just teenage love.
If either one of you waffles, the kids will know it, and you just bought a ticket to the slippery slope.
I would do it again, and looking at the posters on this site, they would too since many military members were military brats too.