October 26 is the National Day of the Deployed. This day hits home for me because for the better part of the year my husband was deployed. In some ways it was just what we expected and others, not so much.
At the intersection of military life, deployment, and this blog lies military spouses in STEM (SMSS). We are spouses who work in science, technology, engineering, and math, despite the challenges of frequent moves, remote locations, and possible international living.
Work gives us a personal sense purpose while our spouses are deployed, in the field, or gone for training. We cherish being the home front to support our soldiers but we also realize that being the best for them means pursuing our own passions.
SMSS recognizes this. National Day of the Deployed is also about the families. This day, “acknowledges their families who are separated from them during deployment and the sacrifices they make in order for their family members to serve our country.”
National Day of the Deployed, “honors the United States military personnel deployed around the globe.” In honor of today, I’d like to re-share my deployment story from the Military Moms Blog.
My Deployment Story
If we were having coffee, I would tell you this is one of those days where we should be drinking wine instead. You see, it’s one of those days when the Deployment Curse has hit me hard.
I sprained my ankle a month ago. I thought it was better, so I went to work out only to sprain it again. I finally went to the doctor who told me I injured a tendon in my leg called the peroneal tendon. My husband (also a doctor) thinks it’s funny because I keep mixing up peroneal with perineum. He laughs because those are two very different areas on the human body. The perineum, no doubt would also be a bad thing to sprain.
This, I think to myself, is my deployment curse! I’ve been waiting for it, warned by spouses who’ve gone before me. No one gets out of deployment without the curse striking at least once.
Did you ever have a love one who deployed? Are you in Tennessee and celebrating? Are you a fellow military spouse in STEM? Let me know in the comments below!
Coffee = Blog Fuel
If you find joy and value in what I write please consider donating by “buying me a coffee”.
Lily Snyder 
Leave a Reply