Wednesday, May 11, 2011

You can take the girl out of the military...

Strange thing tonight...

At the Israeli Consulate Yom HaAtzmaut celebration Sean and I met Brigadier General Hilton, Commandant, and Major Wiesenfeld of the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.  Although there were many people we knew at the event (some I haven't seen in a while, and was very happy to be with them), I felt most comfortable with Major Wiesfeld.  Somehow being with another military person just feels right.  While I do not wear a uniform myself, over the past (almost) 17 years, I have discovered that I have a definite place in the military community.

Raised by a socialist, Zionist father, a child born in the late 60's and in the shadow of Vietnam, the military, while appreciated, felt foreign in concept, and was far from my mind and heart.  Now, after 17 (almost) years as a military spouse, that same military feels comfortable, eliciting pride.

It was immense pride and gratefulness that I felt upon hearing that an elite Naval Seal team had killed Osama Bin Laden.  Immediately after I felt sorry for Sean, that he could not be in Afghanistan for this, one more thing taken from him in the aftermath of the series of mistakes that changed his deployment.  I feel pride when I see a US uniform, or one of our allies.  I was the one that wanted to introduce ourselves to Major Wiesenfeld.  There is an instant camaraderie among most of the military and the military families.  It should be taken advantage of; old connections maintained, and new ones formed.

Happy birthday to our ally, Israel.