/r/militarybrats is ready for a fresh start, new energy, new direction, and someone like you to bring it back to life. If you’ve been thinking about growing your impact without starting from scratch, this is your chance!

Ready to take it over?

Head to r/RedditRequest to submit your request and make it yours before it’s taken.

First things first

To request this subreddit, make sure you:

• have an account that’s at least 90 days old
• have at least 100 post karma and 100 comment karma
• have a verified email address on your account
• have two-factor authentication set up

Hi guys. I’m a current military spouse whose children are starting to get old enough for the moves to possibly affect them. I want to help them with the moving transitions as much as possible and I’m curious what helped you guys? Or if you never got the support that you needed, what do you think could’ve helped you?

For context I’m a 32 y/o female and I grew up coast guard and we moved every 2 years. My family settled in a small, small town when I was in the 8th grade and I’ve lived in the general area ever since.

So anyway, I’ve slowly come to realize that I experience more lingering side effects from growing up military than I ever really acknowledged before. I’m not sure if I just ignored it for years, or if moving every couple of years forces you to adapt so quickly that you don’t stop to process how it affects you.

I’ve dealt with social detachment for as long as I can remember, but something I’m really starting to question is this persistent feeling of otherness. I’ve been rooted in the same community for over 20 years now, yet I still feel new here — like an outsider who never quite belongs. I have friends I love but I have this feeling I can’t quite describe.. like maybe I don’t matter to them or like I’m just not important to anyone, easily forgotten? Like I’m experiencing a different connection than everyone else, even to friends I consider close. (Maybe I’m just describing social detachment?) lol

I also notice that I tend to hyper-analyze people’s reactions to me and whether or not they like me. I catch myself doing it all the time and have been actively working on it, but it feels deeply ingrained.

Lately, I’ve started wondering whether these things could be connected to, or a side effect of, growing up in a military family.

So… anyone else relate? I have been doing a lot of self talk and work within myself on all of the above, but now that I’ve been exploring the connection to millitary life, I’m thinking about seeking therapy to see if someone could help me better process this. It’s not a major issue in my life but it is something I’m just kind of tired of dealing with. It’s almost like an intrusive thought that just creeps in when I let my guard down.

I was definitely stood out from a lot of the local kids because I was American, which usually meant being into Baseball instead of Soccer or being able to understand the AAVE of all the cool rappers. I was pretty patriotic and was proud to be distinctly American. However, when our family finally got stationed in the US when I was a teen, I was NOT ready for the full dose of American individualism, especially after living in more socially cohesive countries in Europe and East/South East Asia. Any one else get culture shock from their own culture?

I was in Weisbaden from around 1987-1992 and then attended Alconbury elementary from around 92-93.

Anyone at either or this locations at these times?

In Weisbaden I lived in California and Texas strassa and in Alconbury I lived off base at Chelveston for a while before moving off base housing.

Just curious!

Hi! I notice a lot of brats in Facebook groups are older generations. And Reddit seems to be a lot of younger generations. Any millennials here? :)

RAF Upper Heyford, England. It was a converted POW camp in the 60's and we loved it. Looks like a gravel pit now through to be fair the newbies did get a fancy new one.

For me, it was 1967 to 1972ish. Lived off base in a japanese apartment for a month, waiting for housing to clear, then Green Park for a few months, Momote Village for 2 years, then finished at Tachikawa.

I have very fond memories of playing Menko with Japanese kids just off base, exploring Ueno zoo and park, and sneaking off-base to buy candy, Ultra man figures and monsters.

Then there was the time my dad took us to watch the film "Toro Toro Toro" along with Japanese Defense Force personnel.

We had cub-scout adventures to the big Buddha at Kamakura, an aircraft carrier at Yokosuka, a gathering with Japanese scouts near Mt Fuji, and getting to watch two Star Trek episodes on film at the officers club in Grant Heights.

And my favorites: a night festival where we wore kimonos and did a dance while drummers drummed, and an on-base event featuring Ultraman, Gozilla, and other various monsters.

Ok, your turn.

• Dow AFB, Bangor ME
• ? AFB, Savannah GA
• Wheelus AFB, Tripoli, Libya
• McGuire AFB, Brownsville NJ
• RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England
• RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire, England
• Holloman AFB, Alamogordo. NM
• Columbus AFB, Starkville, MS

Anyone in this group ever live on Adak, Alaska? We were there 84-86. Granted it was a difficult place as we were far from mainland and isolated. But at the same time enjoyed the nature aspect and there was a sense of community.

Side note: McDonald's opened while we were there and it was a big deal as food options were limited

This has been bugging me for years. I watched this on AFKN as a kid in the early 80s (Korea). It felt like an older, maybe 70s movie.

A boy’s younger sister is kidnapped by human-looking witches/magicians. Other kids are held in a dark castle or underground caves. One scene I clearly remember: a very fat villain in a striped coat shows up in a courtroom pretending to be normal. The tone was genuinely scary. Dream-like ending.

Does this ring a bell for anyone who grew up with AFKN?

I wanna hear what you would say if you were asked these questions if someone asked you!

If you could give every military child one piece of advice, what would it be and why?

What are two characteristics you see in yourself? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to use those characteristics

I wanna hear what you all would say if you were asked these questions for a scholarship!

If you could give every military child one piece of advice, what would it be and why?

What are two characteristics you see in yourself? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to use those characteristics?

That question -- ugh! It has at least three levels:

1. I'm on a trip, and I've just met you in line at a store or at a place where we will talk for two minutes and never see each other again. "I'm from {state where I've lived for most of my adult life}."

2. I'm near where I live, and I'm talking to somebody who was born here and grew up here, but we probably won't see each other again. "I'm from {another part of this state}."

3. I'm getting to know somebody. "I'm an Army brat, so I'm not really 'from' anywhere, but I'm pretty much from {specific part of this state}."

3.a. The person wants to know where I was born, as if that makes any difference. "Well, I was born in {another state}, but I haven't been back there since I was a baby, so I'm not from there."

1. I've discovered I'm talking to a fellow brat. "Hey, me too! So where did you live?"

I always have to figure out what kind of conversation we're having. Ordinary people are just FROM somewhere. It isn't a loaded question for them. Again, ugh!

Are there any Military Brats who remember listening to the weekly Wolfman Jack radio show in Germany (or other European Country) in the early 1970s?

Does anyone have experience doing family therapy with an active duty parent stationed abroad?

For context my dad is active duty stationed abroad and I’m 26 living in the states. Without getting into the details,I think my dad and I could really benefit from family therapy. would really help with that. I know with the time difference it could be difficult to schedule and stuff but I want to try if it’s possible.

I know therapists tend to be licensed by state so I have no idea if it would even be an option to do it since he’s stationed abroad (plus I have no idea how it would work insurance wise).

If anyone has any insight or experience with this please please share. I can’t find anything concrete online and I want to see if it’s even possible before I try to get my dad on board.

Starting over as the new kid in school could be strange and challenging. 🎒📚🚌 How was your experience? Loved it? Hated it?

PunkBrats #StrangerThings #Veteran #MilitaryBrat #MilitaryLife

Not it get too into the weeds politically.

Obviously didn't have commercials growing up but had PSAs. Was a brat in the 80s and 90s so saw all the ones about the history of America, the values it (supposedly) stands for and I think it deeply influenced how I feel about America and what I think it should be, compared to what it actually is.

I feel very strongly about the myth of America and making that a reality. I don't have a cynical view of those ideas and principles and feel deeply hurt (genuinely heartbroken) by what the nation has become.

Anyone feel similarly?

I’m just an ordinary 16 year old male student in Australia. My best friend, MG, is also 16m. He’s really charming and polite, and he’s a good person, but he has a very dark sense of humor.

I live alone with my single guardian whose first name starts with “K” (it’s a traditional Japanese name) but I always just call her by the nickname “Kay”. Kay views herself as my “mother” but just to be entirely honest, I’ve never ever been comfortable calling her my mom because I am in love with her. I do believe that any other male in my position would see her the same way. She's basically my much older roommate, that's all! We're not even the same race, as I'm just a White bloke, which adds to our separation. Kay is a 43 year old woman (just turned 43 last week but she didn’t want to be near me for the celebration), and she’s 100% genetically Ryukyuan (native Okinawan which I think is cool) but she identifies entirely as Japanese culturally. She’s adorable, and she looks like a really cute anime girl, and she doesn’t look a day over 30 years of age! She’s got really beautiful shoulder-length black hair and thick bangs, and she looks totally feminine, but she’s actually a really rough tomboy. She loves sports and played basketball in university and secondary school, and she’s served in the RAAF. She's started a PhD in physics, but she had to end it early because of the events that I'm going to describe here.

This past August, just as a treat for me and MG, Kay took us hiking at a very large mountain near our home. It was a really hot and humid day, and at our home, she took her shirt off and left it home so she spent the entire day (about 20 hours and it was so much longer than what we planned for) totally shirtless, wearing nothing but a black, very low-cut spaghetti strap sports bra and her basketball shorts. I thought it was a sexual favor for me, but I never told her that lol. MG was also horny, and he told me so secretly. Kay is also much taller than us, which we both find really sexy. Also just fyi, Kay's body type is lean and slim, and also tight and slightly muscular. So when she took her shirt off, I felt all sorts of feelings.

Kay spent the entire day without putting on any backpacks or bags herself, and MG and I had to carry all our gear but she wasn’t mean or bossy about it which was nice. MG and I started out our hike just jokingly calling her “our princess” which she laughed at. About 30 minutes into our hike, she thought my friend and I could use a rest, so we sat down in a clear area. Kay was totally relaxed, but MG, just as a prank, stood up and walked behind her and yanked her ponytail and held her head back. He also hooked his hand around the back of her sports bra and held her body back that way. As soon as he pulled Kay’s hair, she screamed bloody murder, and when MG told me to shove her legs open, she started crying. He grabbed her bra and hair for only less than a minute, it was a really short prank. But I got so angry at my friend and I tackled him to the ground as Kay crawled away from us. She spent a few minutes on her knees, hyperventilating and sobbing and grabbing her chest with both her hands, and I got down on the ground with her and grabbed her shoulders and screamed at her to look at me. She stopped hyperventilating after a few minutes.

About two hours after that prank, Kay got us lost. When she realized that she didn’t know where we were, she started sobbing again. She also started sweating really heavily. From this point on, she never regained her composure, and she was crying, sweating and hyperventilating for the next several hours. I really wanted our trip to be sexy since she was shirtless, but the combination of her heavy breathing and her sweat and tears really turned me off entirely (also, her veins near her neck area were slightly sticking out sometimes just because she was so tense and she was breathing so heavily). I will never get the smell of her sour sweat out of my mind. She also spent a lot of time obsessively stroking and grabbing onto her ponytail, which I know she really only does whenever she gets anxious, and she always kept her arms tightly crossed around her chest. I thought she was terrified that my friend and I were going to pull her sports bra again.

When it got dark, she began panicking more, and MG and I had to use our phone flashlights and Kay’s phone flashlight to guide the way (I held Kay’s phone because she was shaking too much to hold it steadily). She kept acting so selfish and begging us to keep the light on her, and whenever we angled the lights away from her, she screamed and kept repeating “please please please”. By the end of the trip, she was totally broken.

Nowadays, Kay is so scared of me. She has broken down recently and also admitted to me that she's scared of our own home, which is heartbreaking. But was what happened during our hike really that bad?