Living on a Military Base

So here we are in Corpus Christi, TX and we are living on the base! Our initial plan was to find something nearby, on Padre Island; however, the base housing is actually only one block from the water and much larger than what was available on the island. Plus, there is that added bonus of having gates guarded by guys with M4s as well. ;) We did not know quite what to expect moving on base. My preconceptions were a mix of the idyllic portrayal of living on base from what I have seen on the Lifetime series "Army Wives," with their gigantic, amazing houses, tons of military social events, and wonderful friendships. On the other hand, their is a real life stigma of living on base with catty women, and petty drama. However, after talking to a few of my fellow Marine wives from Virginia, who had sinced moved on to their permanent duty stations months previous and chose to live on base, I heard nothing but positive things, and great experiences. So I was hoping for Lifetime version of base living!

NAS Corpus Christi is definitely not the prettiest or the largest of bases; however, our experience living on base has been nothing but positive so far! We have a cute 3 bedroom house, complete with a white picket fence. Jordan is enjoying having a 2 minute commute to work, literally door to door, and being able to come home for lunch every day. I have spent my first few weeks here setting up our house and trying my hand at gardening in our front yard. In that time, there have been some very surreal moments, where it feels as though we are living such a cliche military, all-American life. For example, hearing revellie (or the National Anthem in this case, as it is on Naval bases) at the start and end of every day. Upon hearing it over the speakers throughout base, you are supposed to stop whatever you are doing (including driving by pulling over to the side of the road) and face a flag for the duration. It can sometimes be hard to hear when you are driving in your car listening to loud music; however, you quickly realize whats going on when you see all the other cars on the road pulled over and you are the only one driving! Whoops! Perhaps we should also train Gunnar to stop and sit everytime he hears it as well! Another surreal moment hit me last week. I was gardening in the front yard when the Military Police drove through the neighborhood on their daily patrol; they smiled, waved, and kept on driving their route. It's weird that a simple moment like that would really hit me. However, at that moment I took a second to just reflect on where our life had taken us in such a short amount of time. Although it seems that our life has drastically changed in the last year from the outside, for us, it seems as if we have transitioned into this military life very gradually. It is still shocking when you have that moment, where you can see yourself and your life from the outside looking in, and really appreciate how much everything has changed in such a short amount of time, but at the same time, how normal everything feels. Each day, all these new military customs and the whole lifestyle become even more normal than the day before, so it has been so fun to document our first experiences and reactions to the military life, as one day we will have these memories to look back on.

As I said previously, we are living only one block from the ocean! The block right on the water is the historic row of officer houses from the early days of NAS Corpus Christi. Unfortunately, it looks like time and weather has taken a toll on most of them, and while some were renovated and are still occupied, others are going to be torn down over the next couple of years. It's such a neat picture of history though walking through that neighborhood, even as it still stands now. The houses are straight out of the WWII era, and I can picture the wives hanging their laundry on the clothes lines in the backyard (which are still standing), while the kids ran around the yard, and old war planes flew overhead. Nestled among these smaller '40s-'50s style one stories, is a very large, gorgeous white plantation home; it's the type of amazing home you see pictured on Army Wives for General Holden and Claudia Joy (If you haven't watched Army Wives-guess you better start!). So while these grand homes portrayed on TV do in fact exist on real Military bases, they are reserved for the highest of officers. The occupant of this house is a Rear Admiral of the U.S. Navy and the current Chief of [ALL] Naval Air Traning, or the CNATRA (prounced Sinatra, as in Frank Sinatra).  This is the guy who is in charge of the ENTIRE Naval Air Training command, and he lives just one block over from us! I was teasing Jordan that I was thinking about getting shirts made, each with a different saying that I could wear as I jogged by his house everyday. My plan was to smile and wave as I ran with Gunnar around neighborhood, with sayings on my shirts such as: "Lippincott for 1st Lieutenant," or, as he got further in his training, and closer to selecting his flight platform : "Lippincott for (JETS/HELICOPTERS)!" Well, while out running the other day, wouldn't you know it but, Gunnar decieded to use the bathroom right in front of the CNATRAs property! As Gunnar stopped to sniff, I could forsee what was about to happen-right in the beautiful planter of the SOLE person who is charge of ALL OF AVIATION for the entire Navy and Marine Corps, so I frantically started tugging his leash with all my might,! " Come ON, Gunnar! NOT YET! Come. on. just. a. little. bit. furtherrrrrrrr!!!" Well, don't let his size fool you-he is a strong pup, and  he decided to pull back equally as hard. And with the leash and collar scrunching up over his poor little head against my pull, he proceeded to squat....right there in front of Ol' Blue Eyes' beautiful plantation home. THANK GOODNESS, I was only teasing about those shirts, and wasn't actually wearing one...otherwise it would have been "LIPPINCOTT FOR REVIEW BOARDS."

The CNTRAs house