Don't give me a choice, then get made when I make a decision!

So, I haven't posted much about military life on here lately, but lots has been going on. Now that I'm a SAHM with a baby, I'm getting to see the otherside of things ... not that I wasn't understanding before, but now I'm feeling the heat.

My husband has command of a small group of Soldiers, of which 12 are married. Most have children, most under the age of 5 with the exception of 2 9-year-old girls. Now with the exception of me and the 1SG's wife all of our spouses work, go to school, or both. All are actively involved in their childrens schools, which is mandatory here in South Florida and about half either are from here and have family in the area, or their Soldier is from here and has family locally.

Now our parent unit (name withheld to protect the not-so-innocent) is made of of many senior-level NCOs and officers whose children fall into the older ranges, though there are some who have young children.

Anyway, my husband's command is "attached" to this parent-unit, meaning that the unit also has another parent-unit at another installation.

Now, I've juggled both passing information sent to me by both the the families, made sure they knew of events and stuff, and sharing inforamtion that is not "unit-specific" with the other "parent" like camps for military chidlren, scholarships, etc.

Well, we were holding our own FRG meetings, socials and events since we arrived last December, but the Family Team leaders from the "local" parent group weren't happy with that saying we needed to stick with them. We ignored them and continued ( Geo is obligated to hold these meetings for his unit per Army Regulations). They weren't happy but when we the general left and was replaced by an admiral (joint unit) he agreed that we are a seperate unit and should hold meetings.

Well, the Family Team leaders weren't happy so instead chose to focus on the fact that our spouses don't participate AT ALL in the parent unit activities (daytime events) but we have nearly 100% participation at our own little events. Well, the fact that they tried to call me out during a meeting with the Admiral, while my husband was outside with the baby, didn't deter me or make me cower.

I argued that all of my spouses are otherwise engaged during the day and we took a poll of the familei and found that there are two nights a week that all except one spouse was free (diff on each night). So we hold activities and events on those days. We al so ensure the Soldiers are home to watch the children when we have a "girls night out" and if the Soldier is away (school, mission, etc.) then you can bring the child(ren) with you.

They argued that they had one night time event, during the summer. Um, isn't that when most families are on vacations?

Now it seems to me that we go above and beyond to put the families first, thus ensuring they can participate. Why is that concept so hard to understand?

Until our next cup of tea,