Quit Being Military Brats?
From Judi Forquer Runyon
At 62 years old and being married 44 years, I am still an Army Brat (in my heart.) My question is, when do we quit being Military Brats? My heart has so many stories and life experiences because of it! I would never have met the range of people I was able to because of being in the military.
It wasn’t always easy, especially after the teen years. You have to leave the friends you worked so hard to make and begin new relationships with all new people, live in a new place, learn a new language in some cases. We as a family, had a close relationship. I went through times when my younger brother was my only friend and vice versa. Now in hindsight, I see the values that were put into place in my life and I am a better person for it.
In 2002, with my daughter’s help I began a journey on the computer to find my dear old friends. They were the last I knew before my father retired. I was 15-17 years old while we lived there. We had lived at Ft Slocum, NY. It was a fort that was on an island. We kids, were very close to each other…it seems when you live on a fort you have so much more in common with others in the same situation. Being on an island really accentuated that. We had all promised that last summer we had together to meet again but we never had. We were busy having babies and building careers.
I actually felt like the hand of someone mightier then myself was at the wheel when I embarked on my “computer journey.” I immediately found the girl(now woman, mother and grandmother!) that was my best friend, I had named my daughter after her. She found some other friends, they knew others. It was wonderful! The Military Brats Registry helped me find a couple people from when I was 13 years old in Thailand! We all sent pictures of our families, children and grandchildren to one another. It was as if we still knew each other as we did 44 years prior to that. So I learned that the bond we Army Brats have is a heartfelt one. And you never forget those feelings or the places you have been privileged to see.