I want to share a theory I have about men and deployments....

[remyandhollandsmommy]

I have this theory that I call the BTS. For those of you that do not speak military slang that stands for "Basic Training Syndrom". It is a disease that infects soilders when they are away from their support structure. The support structure can be friends, families, or significant other.
To support my theory I give you exhibit A: The sappy, heartfelt letters, poems, and cards my DH sends me whenever he is gone for extended periods of time.
It all started while he was in basic training at Lackland in TX a few years ago (which is why I refer to it as BTS). I began receiving letters with the word "love" in every other sentence. Then came the *shudder* poems. They were horrible musings about how I was a goddess and something about how I had something to do with the sun and moon. I will have to dig them out so I can show ya'll how scary they really were. As for the cards, well, let's just say DH kept Hallmark afloat. At this point I was getting terrified that DH had snapped and was worried insanity ran in the bloodlines (we had a DD, Remy). I called a few friends that had loved ones in the military as well and learned they were experiencing the same phenomenon. All these normally tough hard core soilders were becoming emotional wrecks. So I relaxed and enjoyed the worship while it lasted. It ended when DH was home for a few weeks and got used to us again. I kept all the love sick dribble he'd sent me and occasionally brought it out whenever I got annoyed with DH and shouted to him, "What happened to this wonderful man that thought I was keeper of the sun and when will he be back?!" I never did get a satisfactory answer on that. But that man did come back when DH was deployed for the first time. And then again on that TDY (temporary duty) that lasted three weeks. Oh and since June when DH left to go back to Iraq he's been sending emails instead of the other stuff. He thinks emails won't leave a paper trail, but he hasn't realized I print them out for future references.

 

[Keli]

LOL, I remember when my dd's ex bf was in Iraq. Ashli was usually very quiet about the contents of the letters, cards, and emails Titus sent but every once in a while she'd be reading one and start laughing. Pretty soon she'd be reading excerpts from them aloud and we'd all get a kick out of hearing about Ashli's endless beauty in a million different ways, lol. Yep, soldiers can get pretty sappy sometimes. Of course I always had the feeling that Ashli was every bit as bad, if not worse, in her letters to Titus. So maybe he regaled the soldiers around him with excerpts from her letters!

 

[katerkat]

Man, I need to trade husbands! DH barely scratched on the postcards from boot camp. (Those would be the ones I bought, addressed and stamped. )

He did walk through a riot (with tear gas!) in Bolivia to talk to me online.

Alas, in the nearly five years we've been together, though, no poetry.

 

[Pin Wizard]

You're extremely fortunate to have a husband do that. I'd be appreciating it completely!

 

[Boo'sMom]

ah yes...the love letters from the field.....I have box of them in my hope chest......and will keep them forever..

Thanks for the smile this morning!

 

[pumba]

still remember all those good mushy letters that I eventually had to burn in the fireplace at camp so that the kids would never find them......he wrote a letter each night as I did when he was in Sicily for 6 months out of the year........his last deployment had been cut down to 4 months and I was expecting our first child at the time.......you brought back many happy memories of the words we know our hubbies can speak........just misplaced that is all

 

[powellrj]

LOL I am a mom so I don't get long sappy letters from Iraq, but I do know that he writes a girl back here. She faithfully wrote everyday through bootcamp and AIT and now Iraq. He wrote her and now the IM eveytime he gets a computer. We had never met (really never knew about her) until after he was deployed and he IM'd me and asked me to call her and meet with her. We have since met and she seems like a nice girl. Its funny because the kid she talks about writing her is NOT the ds I hear from. LOL. Thanks for sharing!


Raejean

 

[parmtoo]

Oh yeah! I guess we all have that shoe box full of letters from our soldiers! And here I thought I was special
Seriously, i love those letters and have saved all of them! They help keep us both going in the hard times of separation.

 

[Auggietina]

Its funny - I *knew* what you were going to say before I even opened up this thread!!

Yes, my manly man is a sap too.

I have saved everything. Even the IMs to use for future reference (especially since he told me yesterday to go buy a new dishwasher )

We have fallen in love all over again since he has been gone.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I have a shoebox full from desert storm. We read them together last year and howled.
Have started my new collection since he was mobilized last month. I get mostly e-mails now (and lots of sweet calls), but have them all in a special folder.

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

For those of you with a non-spouse in the military, I have decided to also submit Exhibit B: My little cousin who is on a sub right now and has decided his family is the best thing since X-Box. I have in my possesion several emails stating I am now the best cousin in the world and all previous complaints have been withdrawn. Jarrod, who is 19, has taken full blame for all the horrible things I did to him in our youth, even assurring me that he knows somehow it was his fault that his left eyebrow has a spot that never grew back due to the time we fought over the front seat in my grandpa's car to go to the store. I am afraid I can no longer take blame for "accidently" slaming the door in his face and the ensuing stitches that resulted. I assure you I am keeping proof of this. Just a side note...it really is his fault since he pushed me first. I was almost in the car!
Anyways, he has also told his mom that he understands the sacrifices she made for him and will now become the ideal son. * Excuse me for a moment while I laugh cynically. *
Seriously, my aunt really has gave up any hope of a life for her kids and now that the youngest is 12, she is finally getting some things for herself which I heartily encourage. She had her kids at an extremely young age and devoted her life to the ungrateful whelps. I really hope Jarrod, her oldest, follows through on his new found respect and is an example to the other three. Okay, I amend that to two because the only girl is grateful and nice to her mom. I am impressed that he has seemed to grow up alot since enlisting. I am a firm believer that for some people the military is a wonderful experience. He even sends her money now for all the "loans" she made to him in past years. I refuse to burst her bubble though and tell her it all a part of BTS. But ya know...I have been known to be wrong. Seldom, I admit, but still a few times...

 

[stm61]

BTS, hum, must be a guy thing! I'm the one deploying while he stays home and I definately didn't send home anything incriminating, other then the credit card bill that is. DH never sends me anything in writing either but I do remember the collection of stuffed animals with "Luv Ya" banners attached that appeared during the yrs he worked out of state. He did seem awful glad to see me when I returned, especially after my best friend panicked him into thinking I was getting extended for another month LOL Guess it wasn't as easy being Mr. Mom now that the kids are all old enough to answer back while destroying the house. I think the new country song about Mr. Mom was written just for him!

 

[VampHeartless]

lol! This thread totally reminds me of the letters I would write Sarah whenever I was in any locked down environment, out in the field or training or whatnot. Hmm...would be an interesting psych study actually!!

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

I have debated whether to actually allow ya'll to "hear" one of the horrible poems I was talking about earlier. I have decided to only "torture" ya'll a little bit and post a few lines of one of them...
And I quote:
"You are to me like water is to the plants, you give me life when others think there is none left. When the sun shines on the plants below and makes them grow, that is my life with you and I just want you to know. When the spring and rivers run fast and long, when water is pure and never undrawn, as it never stops, but continues on again. That is my heart so deep and strong, no matter what you do in my eyes you are never wrong."


It goes on for several more PAGES like that...I like to bring this one up in arguments because of the part where I am NEVER WRONG!!!

Oh and if my DH askes, we never had this discussion. He doesn't like the fact my "theory" has been proven again and again!

 

[poohbear1029]

The training to do this must start very early in there career. I met DH after he had done 2 1/2 years of ROTC while we were in college. The letters started only months after he met when he went to Bangkok for a 2 month study abroad for school. They then continued at ROTC camp that summer and flight screening as well.

There were more letters during his remote to Saudi in 97-98....I didnt save the IM's then or the emails....AT&T owns our memories of this summers TDY.....$400 in phone charges as he had to call me when he had the chance and Panama City, FL was the only spot on the planet his Verizon Cell roams!!! Grrr! We should have gone back to the basics of letter writing.

I have a whole box myself...... its our 10th ann. this year...I'll have to dig them out to remind him of how wonderful he thinks I am!

 

[VampHeartless]

Originally posted by poohbear1029
AT&T owns our memories of this summers TDY.....$400 in phone charges

Ouch!!! This reminds of my painful monthly phone bills when my first girlfriend got stationed in Japan!! 40 cents a minute...somewhere in the range of 600 dollars a month...on an E-2's salary!!!