Military poems and essays
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Site has almost 200 military poems.
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Here are a few poems submitted by our website visitors:
Military Wives
Each one may look different and each is wonderfully unique, But this is what they
have in common:
Lots of moving...
Moving...
Moving...
Moving far from home...
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog...
all riding with HER of course.
Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house; Moving curtains
that won't fit;
Moving jobs
Moving away from friends;
Moving toward new friends;
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories.
Often waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting for housing.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments.
Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions.
Waiting for the new curtains to arrive.
Waiting for him to come home, For dinner...AGAIN!
They call her 'Military Dependent', but she knows better:
She is fiercely In-Dependent.
She can balance a check book;
Handle the yard work;
Fix a noisy toilet;
Bury the family pet...
She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes;
Sell a house;
Buy a car;
Or set up a move...
....all with ONE Power of Attorney.
She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.
She reinvents her career with every move; Locates a house in the east, west or out of country.
And learns to call them all 'home'.
She MAKES them all home.
Military Wives are somewhat hasty...
They leap into:
Decorating,
Leadership,
Volunteering,
Career alternatives,
Churches,
And friendships.
They don't have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible.
They plant annuals for themselves
and perennials for those who come after them.
Military Wives quickly learn to value each other:
They connect over coffee,
Rely on the spouse network,
Accept offers of friendship and favors.
Record addresses in pencil...
Military Wives have a common bond:
The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands; his commitment is unique.
He doesn't have a 'JOB'
He has a 'MISSION' that he can't just decide to quit...
He's on-call for his country 24/7.
But for her, he's the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign
NOK, PCS, OPR, SOS, ACC, BDU, ACU, BAR, CIB, BDF And so, a Military Wife is
a translator for her family and his.
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed; the glue that holds them together.
A Military Wife has her moments:
She wants to wring his neck;
Dye his uniform pink;
Refuse to move to Siberia;
But she pulls herself together.
Give her a few days,
A travel brochure,
A long hot bath,
A wedding picture,
And she goes.
She packs.
She moves.
She follows.
Why?
What for?
How come?
You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart .
It was stolen from her by a man,
Who puts duty first,
Who longs to deploy,
Who salutes the flag,
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband, she will remain his military wife.
And would have it no other way.
Author Unknown
(Untitled) - A poem about the military brat:
My hometown is nowhere, my friends are everywhere.
I grew up with the knowledge that home is where the heart is
and the family....
Mobility is my way of life.
Some would wonder about roots, yet they are as deep and strong
as the mighty oak. I sink them quickly, absorbing all an area offers
and hopefully, giving enrichment in return.
Travel has taught me to be open.
Shaking hands with the universe, I find brotherhood in all men.
Farewells are never easy.
Yet, even in sorrow comes strength and ability to face tomorrow
with anticipation....if when we leave one place,
I feel that half my world is left behind. I also know that
the other half is waiting to be met.
Friendships are formed in hours and kept for decades.
I will never grow up with someone, but I will mature with many.
Be it inevitable that paths part, there is constant hope
that they will meet again.
Love of country, respect and pride
fill my being when Old Glory passes in review.
When I stand to honor that flag, so also do I stand in honor of all
soldiers, and most especially, to the parents whose life created mine
Because of this, I have shared in the rich heritage of Military life.
Anonymous
Copyright 2008 - 2023 Benita Koeman, Operation We Are Here. All rights reserved.
Operation We Are Here is a HUB of RESOURCES for the military community and military supporters.
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Airforce Love Prayers, Poems, & Tributes
Author: R.L. Winters, Copyright @ 2009
Coast Guard Love Prayers, Poems, & Tributes
Author: R.L. Winters, Copyright @ 2009Confessions of the Military Wife
Author: Jocelyn Corbin, Copyright @ 2009A book of heartfelt poetry written by an Army wife and veteran. Sharing a story of deployment, struggle, and separation, Jocelyn Corbin's poetry will touch the soul of anyone who has ever loved a service member.
In Their Boots
Poems inspired by Soldiers and their loved ones
Book One: The Soldiers
Author: G. Mark LaFrancis, Copyright @ 2008
In Their Boots: Poems Inspired by Soldiers and Their Loved Ones - Book One: Soldiers is a powerful, poignant and enlightening look into the heart and soul of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a unique, marvelous collection.
In Their Boots
Poems inspired by Soldiers and their loved ones
Book Two: Family
Author: G. Mark LaFrancis, Copyright @ 2011
In Their Boots: Poems Inspired by Soldiers and Their Loved Ones - Book Two: Family is an inspiring, in-depth look at the hearts and souls of Soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their loved ones. This has been called "a masterpiece" and "an emotional journey." G. Mark LaFrancis says this work "gives voice to the voiceless."
Military Moments
Words to honor our American heroes
Author: Thena Smith, Copyright @ 2006
Military Moments: Words to Honor Our American Heroes is a tribute to soldiers and their families. Military Moments: Words to Honor Our American Heroes is Thena Smith's tribute to our nation's heroes, past, present and future. Through poetic words and original sentiments of gratitude for those who serve and protect our nation, Smith shows her support and appreciation for our men and women in uniform by providing the words for others to do the same. A perfect anytime gift for military servicemen, women and their families. A must read for strength, hope and comfort during a loved one's deployment.
Military Moments is Thena's seventh book for crafters and worthy of commendation. Check out the 'Military' word art transparency by Linda LaTourelle for the perfect companion item.
Positively America
Original limericks honoring our nation and reflections on everyday life
Author: Michael Kincade, Copyright @ 2017
Positively America is a work of original limericks honoring our nation and reflections on everyday life. The timing is right for Positively America. In each of our lives, one element of a healthy existence is positivity. Every human deserves and wants to be told they are valuable, respected, and wanted. This to is true of our great nation. Positively America aims to remind each American of these elements. Positively America chronicles that spirit and centers s on the greatness of our nation; past, present, and future. We are: Positively America.
Sitting in the Unknown
A Collection of Poems for Military Loved Ones
Author: Sarah Curtis, Copyright @ 2023
Sitting in the Unknown: A Collection of Poems for Military Loved Ones is a captivating collection of poetry that uncovers the raw reality of life as a military spouse or loved one. From the depths of loneliness and isolation to the peaks of joy and gratitude, this book takes readers on an emotional journey through seasons of surviving, living, and thriving in military life.
Through beautifully curated verses, this collection offers unique validation and support to military loved ones all over the world. With its heartfelt poetry and profound imagery, the author invites readers to sit with their own personal military journeys and experiences.
Whether you are a "seasoned spouse", a long-time wife or husband, or a brand new girlfriend, boyfriend, or partner, "Sitting in the Unknown" has poems for you. This thoughtful collection stretches over many different experiences that a milso (military significant other) or milspo (military spouse) may face, such as deployment, moving (aka PCS, or permanent change of station), and training (aka TDY, or Temporary Duty).
Sitting in the Unknown offers genuine empathy and understanding, inviting readers to connect with emotional themes such as heartache, love, sacrifice, and finding peace amidst the unknown.
Stateside
Words to honor our American heroes
Author: Jehanne Dubrow, Copyright @ 2010
Although the poems in Stateside are concerned with a military husband's deployment, Jehanne Dubrow's riveting collection is driven more by intellectual curiosity and emotional exploration than by any overt political agenda. The speaker in these poems attempts to understand her own life through the long history of military wives left to wait and wonder, invoking Penelope's plight in The Odyssey as a model but also as a source of mystery. These poems are dazzling in their use of form, their sensual imagery, and their learnedness, possessing a level of subtlety and control rarely found in the work of a young poet. Dubrow is fearless in her contemplation of the far-reaching effects of war but even more so in her excavation of a marriage under duress.
Uniform
Author: Lisa Stice, Copyright @2016
Uniform, largely written during and shortly after a husband's deployment, confronts personal fears and military tradition.
"In this unflinching debut collection of poems, Lisa Stice opens a conversation that we have long needed to have and hear: the experience of military spouses who watch war, sometimes achingly and sometimes bitterly, from the home front, part of a system and bound by its rules and yet not quite by direct choice. . .Uniform will resonate with any who have experienced the violence of separation, the doubt and difficulty of reunion, the dehumanization of institutions, of the harm of the unsaid or unsayable. It is a brave and vulnerable book."
- Elizabeth Bradfield, author of Once Removed (Persea Books)
"These are poems that teach us that when a nation goes to war there really is no “over there,” and that the war zone inevitably extends all the way back home."
- Fred Marchant, author of The Looking House (Graywolf Press)
"Through Lisa Stice’s moving first collection Uniform, we live a young woman’s struggle to integrate herself into a culture as foreign to her as the one her husband is deployed to. Stice’s narrator is newly married to the U.S. Marine Corp itself, it seems, as much as her husband, and it is with courage and consistent authenticity that Stice explores the inherent conflict of a third party involving itself in an institution traditionally reserved for couples only."
- Randy Phillis, author of The Plots We Can’t Keep Up With (Encircle Publications)
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