Thread: Army Life with a Wife + Daughter

Serving your country and the quality of life for all family members regardless of branch is basically the same. The Army might think that the Air Force has it much better with better housing but like I said; its all the same.

AF mostly deploys for 4 to 6 month tours compared to the Army's 12 month rotations. In the Army, you will be trained for ground combat than our AF sister service because that is what we do.

I been away from my girls for over 2 years of their lives due to deployments. Its not easy. But the Army has helped me take care of them.

It all depends on where you end up.

My husband spent 25 of 36 months in Iraq. Throw in all the predeployment training during the "dwell time" and he was pretty much gone for a good 4 years.

I don't tell you that to be discouraging, it's just the reality. The Army is working harder to make it so that dwell time is just that dwell time but with schools that need to be attended and training it's hard. Right now the rule is 12 months between deployments but as many will attest to on here, that isn't always the case.

Originally Posted by Dave.West

warrantofficerlq, Thanks for your advice!

After a 12 month rotation, how long is the average downtime? I ask because I've heard that you can technically be away your whole service term.

Also, what is the day to day life like when you're stateside? What would a typical day look like?

average is 12 months dwell time. but when I leave theater, I will have another 15 months with my unit but I found out that there is a three unit rotation so I will not go again with this unit.

Now when I move on and leave this unit; I could be assigned to another unit that is deploying; has deployed or wont deploy. Its all the luck of the draw but I am working with my branch manager for my next assignment.

As the good Chief stated, as far as dependants and housing ect. it doesnt matter what brach you serve they are all the same. Also the Army has been upgrading their housing for quite a while.

On another note- if the USAF wont accept you because they have closed debt waivers what do you have to lose? Perhaps the Army wont take you for the same reason but you wont know until you try.

Deployments are a matter of fact for any branch of service. Thats what we sign up for, to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, every branch takes the same oath.... unless you read fighternotalover's blog.

In the Army if your AIT is longer then 20 weeks, your family can move to your AIT.