Military brats! Check in here!

[RickinNYC]

Hey gang. I was curious to know whether any of you are/were military brats. If so, which parent served? What branch? And where were you stationed growing up?

My Dad was in the Navy and we were stationed in:

San Diego, CA - I was born there but only lived there until I was 1 then we quickly moved to MA.

Boston, MA (actually a Naval base in Chelsea along the Mystic River) - we lived there for six years and I went to kindergarten though 2nd grade in Brookline. The based closed down and we moved overseas.

Yokosuka, Japan - stationed there for six years which was pretty neat. I went to third grade through eighth grade here. By that point, we were all dying to move back to the states.

Jacksonville, FL - Dad was stationed at Jax Naval Air Base but we lived off base in Orange Park where I went to high school and subsequently graduated in '84. The day after they dropped me off at UF for my freshman year of college, Dad had retired from the Navy and he went into practice (he's an anesthiologist) in upstate NY near Schenectady.

How about you fellow military brats? I know you're out there on the DIS!

As an aside, fellow peers always say, "Wow, moving around and living in a foreign country must have been so great!" I always tell them that to me, it was a fact of life and I didn't know any different. At the time, I never thought about it. In hindsight, I do think it must have been pretty cool to have had the same friends growing up and having a "home town."

I know, boring thread.

 

[Dcat2u]

Mom went in the Army for a few years when I was 10, we went to Fort Sill, OK , Munich Germany and Fort Bragg, NC where she met step-dad. We spent most of our time there since he was Special Forces untill we were moved to Fort Campbell, KY and then I joined the Air Force.

 

[llij]

My dad was in the Navy for 30 years and I was born at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville. Some place we lived/stationed were:

Jacksonville twice. (Lived in Orange Park)
Newport, RI
Pt. Mugu, California
Washington, DC (3 times)
Naples, Italy

They also were stationed in:
Pensacola, FL
Corpus Christi, TX
Bermuda
Newfoundland
Pax River

I can't remember where else at the moment!

 

[RickinNYC]

Hey there! When did you live in Orange Park? And where?

 

[SillyMe]

I always wondered what that was like. My dad was a Master Chief Petty Officer in the Navy for 20 years until he was forced to retire due to his illness. My parents were divorced. Even while they were still married, my mom stayed in our hometown and didn't move around with him.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Another military brat checking in!

Both my parents were in the Air Force. They met in basic training. Mom quit when my brother was born when I was 2.5. Dad took early retirement after the Gulf War when they were making so many military cuts.

Stationed in:

Ellsworth AFB, SD (where my brother and I were both born)

Fort Bragg AFB, NC

somewhere briefly in IL...can't remember exactly where since my mom, brother, and I moved in w/my grandparents in FL while dad finished his schooling in IL. We were only there with my dad for a couple months.

Williams AFB, AZ

MacDill AFB, FL (my other brother was born there)

*My 2 half-sisters were born after dad was out of the AF and my parents were divorced.

 

[Stitch Inside]

My Dad (Top) was 30 years in the Marines.

I was born in KC, MO while he was on recruiting duty.

Then we moved near my Grandparents in Borger, TX while Dad went back to Viet Nam.

When he came back we were stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC.

Then, we lived in Vidor, TX while Dad did recruiting duty again, but in Beaumont, TX.

When he went to Okinawa, we went back up to Borger, TX.

When he came back, we were again stationed at Camp Lejeune, we lived off base in Jacksonville, NC, then on base, then Dad was transferred over to Cherry Point, NC while Mom worked in the Camp Lejeune PX. They picked a little town, Cape Carteret, in between the two bases and commuted their different ways each morning. They've been there ever since, even when Dad was transferred back to Camp Lejeune and then back to Okinawa one last time before retirement.

 

[binny]

Sort of a Military brat here.


My dad was in the Canadian Air Force while we were in Canada. He was a Captain and a chaplain. We were in Thompson, then Red Deer for a while and then again in BC.

I cant remember how that worked though.


He was the only officer to ever have served in both the US and Canadian Air Forces

So I "sort of" qualify LOL


My brother is Navy all the way though and one of my Grandfathers was a Marine and my step Grandpa was Air Force.

 

[Blondie]

Navy brat here. My mom was in the Marine Corp but discharged before I was born.

My older brother got to live in a few more places than I did, Dad was stationed at Portsmouth, VA when I came along, and then on to Philly from there, where he retired from.

 

[Teejay32]

somewhat Navy brat....Keflavik, Iceland; Jax, FL and Pax River, MD, then vets housing in MA. My Dad was discharged before I started school.

 

[Pin Wizard]

My Dad was in the Air Force in TX. Out before I was born.

My nephew is in his sixth week in the Coast Guard!

 

[llij]

Hey there! When did you live in Orange Park? And where?

Hi Rick!

I lived in Orange Park from 1968-1970 and again in 1974-1977. I lived in a neighborhood called Foxwood if I remember correctly and I went to Lakeside Elementary.

 

[Disney_1derland]

My parents were both Air Force. They were both active when I was born but out by the time I was 2. I grew up in the last town they were stationed at and we maintained very close ties with the AF community there. Not quite the same as I never had to move but neither did most of the MB's at that base. If you were there, you were pretty much there for good unless you wanted to leave.

 

[mtblujeans]

My Dad was Air Force when I was young. He served for 9 years. He was stationed in Mississippi (where I was born), Missouri (where my sister was born), Chanute AFB in Illinois, and I know we were in New Foundland but I was pre-school age then and I don't remember much of it. I can't remember, now, if Dad was in radios or radar.....and he is no longer alive.

 

[Belle1962]

Army brat. My dad.

Born--Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
lived: Germany, Arizona, Wisconsin, Okinawa, APG (again)

 

[DVC Kathy]

My dad was in the Marines for 22 years.

He was in China shortly after WW II, but didn't see active duty in the Korean War. I know he spent time stationed in California, and at Camp Lejeune.

Dad was stationed in Baltimore, MD when he married my mother. I was born there as was the first of my three brothers. The rest of the family moved back to my mother's parents house in Philadelphia when Dad went to Okinawa.

When he came back he was stationed in Quantico, VA. My next brother was born there. We lived on the base most of the time.

Then Dad was stationed at the Marine Barracks in D.C. We lived in Oxon Hill, MD, just outside of the city. That was the first place I remember well, as we left there right after I finished second grade. It was great. We had an Air Force family on one side, and Navy and civilian families across the street.

After that, Dad was transferred back to Philly, which is where both my parents' families lived. My youngest brother was born at the (now defunct) Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Dad planned to retire out of Philly, once he hit his 20 years. They froze retirements, and he ended up in Vietnam for a while. After his tour there, he did retire.

I always felt that I learned to evaluate people individually, rather than buying in to some stereotype, because we met people from all over the country, and even the world. The Navy family was from Guam.

Of course, I felt gypped that we didn't get to go anywhere exotic, and that we stopped moving about the time I think I would really have enjoyed it.

Then there is the strange vocabulary that no other family used. We weren't grounded, we were "confined" (to quarters). We didn't tidy up or clean up, we either "squared away" or "policed the area".

Kathy

 

[lunchmomd]

Another Army brat reporting for duty! I was born in Heidelburg, Germany. We moved to Mass. when my father did a tour in Vietnam. Then to Alabama for a year when he got back. They back to Heidelburg, where my brother (only sibling, must have been something in the water!!) was born. Then to New Jersey, then to Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod when my father did a tour in Tailand. When he got back from Tailand, he retired.

 

[doxdogy]

Father was in the Navy. I was born in Oahu, Hawaii but we left when I was just a year old. We headed back to Jacksonville and dad was stationed at NAS Jax and we lived on the base. We then spent six months at NAS Glynco, GA. After returning from NAS Glynco dad retired from the Navy.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

My father was in the US Army for 30 years, retired in 1981.

My earliest memories are of Fort Sill, OK, then we lived in Germany (two different places, Buren and Pirmasens) for three years. After that was close to two years at Hunter AAF in Savannah, GA, then DF finished up with a year in Korea and a year at Fort Benning while DM and I lived in her home town of Calhoun, GA.

 

[Talking Hands]

Army brat, Dad retired for medical disability after 25 years

Born: Ft Knox, Ky
Lived: Ky, NY, Japan, Va, DC, Tx, Germany, DC