Print this story Print

Size

In Need of Some Honesty

O k so I just joined this group because I am hoping that sharing with women who have been through similar experiences will help me.... and I definitely need some help right now. Let me start w/ some background information... I've been married to a Marine for two years now and before that we had been together for 4 years. I am a full time student working on my BA in Psychology and I'll be graduating in spring 2010. Which leads me to my point... because I'm in school, I obviously can't just up and follow my husband wherever he goes (even though I would like to) so we spend most of our time apart. Last year he was in Iraq for 7 months and when he came back he was at his home base for about 5 months and we were able to spend a lot more time together because he was only about a 2 hour drive away from my school. After those wonderful months together, we found out he was being deployed again for another 7 months but I was thrilled to find out that he was staying in the state. Sooo now he's working somewhere in the middle of nowhere about 3 1/2 hours aways from home. So you would think I have no reaon to complain right? He can drive home to see me, he's safe and not in danger and he'll be home in months right? Well thats how i felt in the beginning and I was ok with the idea of him leaving. Soon I realized that in some ways this deployment is worse than last year's. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fact that I don't have to deal with the fear I faced last year when he was in Iraq but it's still really difficult to deal right now. He works 6 days a week and puts in a ridiculous amount of hours everyday and by the time he gets back to his room he is exhausted (understandably). So most days i either do not hear from him at all or I'm lucky to get 5 minutes of conversation before he's telling me good night. His only day off is Sunday so when he gets off work on Saturday he usually drives out to my house. Then he usually is so tired that he goes to sleep within a few hours and wakes up early Sunday morning and leaves . This has been goin on for about 3 months now and honestly it's driving me crazy! We had more contact than this when he was Iraq and I got actual phone conversations and emails.....now we hardly communicate at all because "he doesn't have time" and even when we are together, it feels like he is a thousand miles away. First I tried to just deal but then I started to realize that my husband has a lot more free time than he led me to believe since he seems to find time to go out to bars and clubs with his friends and spend hours working on his cars on Saturday before he makes it to my house. Aside from that he leaves early in the morning EVERY Sunday even though he has the day off, always claiming that he has things to do. But every time I ask him how he'll be spending his day, he always tells me about a couple things that will NOT take all day. So I try to explain to him that I know he cant spend the entire day with me but it would be nice if he would  at least spent PART of his day off with me. I AM SO LONELY AND MISERABLE and I miss him so much all the time! But at the same time I can't help but be mad at him because I feel like it doesn't have to be this bad. I feel like he doesn't miss me the way that I miss him ....I feel like if he did he wouldn't go days without calling me or be rushing out of my house on Sunday mornings seemingly anxious to get back to the place that he claims to hate so much (it's puzzling right!?) . I keep telling him how I feel and how unhappy I am and I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall because I don't get a response... and nothing changes. Soo heres were I need the honesty, is it unreasonable for me to feel like he's neglecting me? And what should I do? I can't just keep being miserable and depressed but I don't know what I can do...

Comment (16) Share Your Story Flag
Share |

See stories that happened near this one
See stories that happened near Los Angeles, California (CA), United States (USA)
Comments
   1-10 of 16 Comments   
Comment on this Story
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 8:51PM
I'm kinda confused. When you say "deployed" do you just mean at a different Permanent Duty Station? Meh, either way...

The whole "I hate it" thing... Eli periodically claims he hates the Marine Corps (when he's just been screwed over, normally), but it's completely temporary. He's so proud of who he is because of the Marine Corps and what he does, so that duality doesn't bother me a whole lot.

The rest of your story does, though. I don't know, the whole thing smacks of inaccuracy to me. Life in the Marines is stressful but you can't let him palm everything onto the career that he ultimately got himself into. I don't know, I haven't been in this situation... maybe try to get more active yourself, sometimes go see him instead of him seeing you, calling him and whatever else you feel comfortable with. But if he keeps acting like that I'd start asking some serious questions. 3.5 hours is a long hike to only see someone for a day, I have a 4-5 hour journey to my parents house and I only do that once a month or so for a weekend. I know parent-daughter is different to husband-wife but it's still... I dunno. I see issues on both sides here that you both will have to work on to maintain a stable relationship.
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 8:57PM, last updated Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:01PM
Hey, my name is Kirsten!

I cannot reaaaally give you much advise because I am only DATING my Marine for a little over four months. But within this four months Thomas has not been deployed yet (he will be in Sept.), but he is stationed about 7 hours away from me and is now doing pre-deployment training on the other side of the country. He made about three trips to see me when he was at his base, and I've come up there to stay with him as well- but even though he is in the states still, I get very little phone calls which are usually around 30 minutes tops and a text message here and there... I don't think anything of it because I KNOW he is busy (esp. now because he is working 7 days a week this month), but sometimes he tells me things like "YEAH, me and a few of my boys did this and this..." And you would think that I would wonder why he didn't just call me during more of his freetime because he WORKS with those guys and never see's me- but I understand that they don't do much "playing around" at work, and sometimes guys just need to play around, go out with their boys, have some fun.

In all fairness, Thomas isn't going to clubs and bars (there is NOTHING in el centro, or beaufort haha) so I know there is a difference but being in a military relationship you HAVE to trust him, and also I never have been lucky enough to be with my Marine for months at a time then have it taken away from me, so I have grown very used to this at the same time. And also you are married, and maybe that means you should try a little more before giving up. I don't know- I'm just telling you how it is for me, and maybe that will help some???

Good luck girl!
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:02PM
Um. Deployed in the states? Is that even possible? Is he in pre-deployment training? I am confused.

Anyways, if you already handled a deployment and you have been married for his marine career, then you knew what you were getting yourself into. Why are you complaining about it now? He may very well just be busy. At least you get to physically see him once a week and see that he's safe. Do you know how many marine wives/girlfriends/fiancees would love to have that opportunity?

And, if he's driving home every weekend he obviously cares to some extent. I sure wouldn't drive that much time every weekend for someone I didn't care about.

And, you're lonely? Seriously? I haven't physically seen my man in nine weeks, and there are girls that go a lot longer than that. Why are you so lonely?

And, if you are letting a man make you miserable, I don't know that you are cut out to be a marine wife anyways. You are supposed to be a strong, independent woman.
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:05PM, last updated Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:06PM
Yeah that's what I was getting at- HE STILL MAKES THE DRIVE TO SEE YOU. If that was me I would be so happppppy! It would be so great to SEE him, and FEEL him.

I wouldn't really think much of anything about the other 6 days of the week if I was lucky enough to see my man once a week. stay strong girl.
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:07PM
I just reread this story because I'm so damn confused. That may have something to do with the fact that I'm crashing off energy drinks after my exam this morning, but I dunno... a lot of it just doesn't make sense.

Sure, if I saw Eli once a week I'd be happy, but I dunno. If he was making a 7 hour round trip to do pretty much nothing at all, I'd be scratching my head too.
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:09PM
Ammy-I see your point too. I just re-read the story as well. I don't know. It all seems really weird to me! I too have been studying all night after working all day :)
But, she just sounds whiny to me. I don't know if that's because I am cranky or because she is....
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:12PM
yeah, I get your point too Ammy, I was just thinking about how I would LOVE to see Thomas right now haha.

:p
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:21PM
Bahaha I'm a cranky ***** at the moment, I'm just lost... the desire for sleep is overcoming my desire to ***** someone out. Plus I'm changing between "Heeeeeey my hardest exam is done!" and "I have 3 ahead of me. -_-"

The way I see it is... I go to my best friends place every month, maybe every 3 weeks, he comes up to see me on about the same basis, so we get to see each other once every 2 weeks when we aren't too busy. That's an hour and a half each way to see each other. We make sure we spend all day, if not the whole weekend/stay overnight. Hell, I've gone down Saturday morning and not come home til Monday morning before. We make sure we do this because of the effort it takes to get to see each other. Now, these two are married so I can understand the effort to see each other, but it just seems weird that he'd make the driving effort and then... nothing.

That and the "deployment" thing leave me tilting my head to the side and squinting at this story.
     
Posted Jun 15th, 2009 at 9:35PM
You should consider yourself lucky. I, along with a lot of other ladies on here, would give ANYTHING to see my marine once a week, even if it were for just a few hours. I live 2,000 miles away from where he's stationed. So needless to say, we only get to see each other about once every 3 months. He hasn't been deployed yet. (leaving February, 2010) so our communication is still really good. It's just when he's doin his combat training and goes out into the field. but that's only a week at a time, and even that is still ok with me, because after being on here, and reading these stories, I'm grateful, because I know there's ladies on here that haven't heard their marines voices in months. yes, he's stressed, it's a stressful career. just keep lettin him know how you feel. maybe you'll get through to him.

good luck

my name is Andi btw.. =)
     
Posted Jun 16th, 2009 at 9:36AM
I think you need to sit down and have a long talk with him about how you're feeling. Sometimes (OK lots of the time) guys act a certain way and don't realize that it is bothering you, etc. He is under a lot of stress so he may not know what to do. On the other hand, he is your husband so he should want to spend as much time with you as he can. Take turns visiting each other. If you can't find a compromise and he continues to come home for a small amount of time then I would def. question things. That's not how I would want my relationship to be. You probably don't want to hear it, but as Kali said the first thing that popped into my head is that he's cheating (he may not be though).
     
   1-10 of 16 Comments   

Share Your Comment
...then continue the discussion in the story's forum or, send this story to a friend

Experience Project is a community based on authenticity, support, and respect. EP encourages you to post with these values in mind.
Comments
My Comments:
  Notify me by email when there are new comments
 

Optional location information for this story shared by the user:

Story Location: Los Angeles, California (CA), United States (USA)

Polls for I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine

Questions & Answers for I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine

Here are a few Questions and Answers for I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine

Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine Open Questions
There are no open questions yet. Why not ask a question now?
Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine Resolved Questions
Sort by: Most Recent | Popular
2 answers - Posted 2 months ago
3 answers - Posted 2 months ago
6 answers - Posted 5 months ago
11 answers - Posted 8 months ago
4 answers - Posted 8 months ago

See all question and answers for I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine


Forum & Chat Board for I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine

Here are popular forum topics for I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine

See the Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine forum to chat about these topics and more!


Music, Song, Artist, Book and Movie Recommendations

Related Topics to this Story

Show this Story's Author Some Love

There's lots of ways to show you appreciated this person's story from the experience group, I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine. Send them a virtual gift, make a gesture, scribble on their whiteboard, or send them a private message.

Translate this Story

Anonymous & Free
to join millions in the world's largest community of life experiences
Explore first-person stories about any experience, including your own! Connect anonymously with people who understand.
↓ ADVERTISEMENT ↓
Be YOURSELF

Be a part of the biggest social experience on the web. Where who you are is more important than who you know. Share what matters the most and find others who just "get it."

Join now and get started in seconds, or learn more about Experience Project

↓ ADVERTISEMENT ↓
Love Stories

Check out hundreds of real stories about love.

And so much more!

Of course, we love to hear Your Story, whatever it happens to be. You can be yourself here!

People Like You
This entry is from the Experience Group:

"I Am the Girlfriend, Fiance, Or Wife of a United States Marine"

↓ ADVERTISEMENT ↓