I commute with Tanks....

No, really, I do. My daily commute consists of my sharing the road with military tactical vehicles. Are they even called tanks anymore? This is just one thing that defines my life as an Army Wife. After ten years, it is now "my norm"... I'd probably freak out if I didn't see a tank or two. The really weird thing is, growing up, I thought tanks and Army guys were just something the boys played with. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to grow up somewhere other than the United States, where tanks on city streets and Camouflage are standard police equipment. Needless to say, I never imagined "this" as my life.

Here at Fort Stewart, pretty much everything is associated with a tank, or two, even. Goodness gracious, even the Commanding General is a tank~ no, really, it's true...his name is Abrams. Yep, Abrams, as in the tank. The tank wasn't named for him obviously, but it was named for his grandfather. I never thought soldier guy would work for a tanker.

The weird thing for me is, while I had never even seen a tank outside of a museum, my little ladies have no clue that "normal" people rarely see them at all. I can remember when my best friend was stationed here at Stewart right out of high school; the first time I came to visit I about peed my pants driving to Savannah and seeing a tank cross the road right in front of me on 144. I had no clue Army guys actually drove them aside from war. Yes, just like the rest of America, I had seen them invade Iraq the first time (3ID, I might add... now that i know just about all of 3ID history), but I did not know they actually had to practice to do that! To my girls, hotties with hair cut shorter than an inch, Kevlar, Camo, and even tanks are normal. In fact, the rule of thumb in our Army land is no boys with "short hair". They may be to young to really understand what I mean when I say it, but I still do. My tweeny girl is starting to figure it all out though...I think.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't take it all for granted. We will all miss it one day when, a few years into retirement, we are driving on a city street an there isn't a tank in sight.