User:Balloonman/You Might Be a military Brat if:

You Know You're A Military Brat if You...

(if it's bold it means I know what it means if it's Italicized it means I've been there.)

• actually liked clothes at the BX & didn't mind that 50 others were wearing the same thing.
• liked going shopping with mom for an hour and a half drive because the BIG PX sold Canoe.
• miss shopping at AAFES or the PX.
• realize that the latest fashion in the states is not the same clothes you bought on base.
• always wish you were back at the last place you were stationed even 20 years later.
• answer the question "where are you from" with "I'm kinda from all over the place."
• are able to imitate others' speech patterns or accents easily.
• are amazed at people who have lived somewhere more than three years
• are amazed at people who have who have never seen foreign currency.
• are amazed at people who think Frankfurt is some kind of hotdog.
• are asked "where did you learn to speak English so well".
• are brought to tears by military music.
• are 22 yrs. old & trying to find someone in the military to marry so you can get a new I.D. card.
• avoid visiting the doctor because you don't trust civilian hospitals.
• can ask for a beer in most European languages.
• are familiar with old radio shows like "Chicken Man" and the "Whistler."
• can bounce a quarter off your bed sheets and have hospital corners on your bed.
• can identify ranks and duty station by the stickers on the car's bumper.
• can recite all of the AFRTS commercials along with the television.
• can remember getting a beer from a beer machine.
• can still convert foreign currency in your head.
• can't convince a stateside cousin that your Japanese kimono doll REALLY came from Japan.
• can't drink Budweiser without being coerced.

• conceal your father's rank, once people find out he has stars they'll never treat you the same.
• craved to have a class six ration card.
• didn't save things so you wouldn't go over the weight allowance of the next move.
• didn't see a TV till you were almost a teenager.
• don't feel quite right seeing military personnel younger than you.
• don't really know how to answer the question "what is your home town".
• don't remember the names of your childhood friends.
• draw a quick map of the world to show someone where you last lived.
• enjoy seeing guys in fatigues on city streets.
• every room you've ever had was stark white and you couldn't put nail holes in the walls.
• everyone complains about your name being the most scratched out in their address book.
• feel like you should be visiting the states rather than living in them.
• feel at home on a military base than in town even though you've been a civilian for 26 years.
• feel more comfortable living near a military base and get bummed-out when a base gets closed.
• find that you can easily amuse yourself for hours at airports, train or bus stations.
• get nostalgic when seeing OD Green.
• give someone a break because they are in the military.
• go into culture shock upon returning to the states.
• got dressed up and played pranks at Fasching.
• got grounded or restricted to quarters or put on KP duty.
• graduated from a high school you only attended for a year.
• had a father who was always telling you to "police the area".'
• had a pup tent in your yard until your parents found out what was going on in there.
• had a supply of K-Rations that you traded with your friends.
• had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in a mess hall
• had your introductory speech prepared and memorized for your first day at a new school .
• have a collection of bunch of beer caps from everywhere.(Coaster actually)
• have a very best lifelong friend who you have known them for less than a few years.
• have been asked just where in NY APO is.
• have been hit on at the young age of 13 by men in uniform.
• have to explain that being born in Germany does not make you German.
• have forgotten how to speak more languages than most people ever learn.
• haven't seen your best friend since the last time Dad was transferred.
• hear the sound of freedom when military aircraft fly by while civilians complain about the noise.
• inexplicably have the urge to move to a new place every year for no reason at all.
• keep bumping into people all over the world that know friends that you haven't seen in years.
• knew the rank and name of the kid next door's father before meeting the kid next door.
• know how great it is to be able to return to base and your little slice of America.
• know kilometers better than miles and Celsius better than Fahrenheit.
• know that Radio Luxembourg was the number 1 way to keep up with the latest rock & roll hits.
• know the words and tune to military march songs.
• know what a jump tower is and after a few beers - thought it made good sense to climb one.
• know what the "land of the round door knobs is".
• left school frequently for bomb scares.
• like institutional-style cooking and enjoyed going to the Mess Hall.
• listened to Armed Forces and VOA radio for the 1st 10 years of your life.
• made better grades in geography because you'd been to the places you were studying.
• meet another military brat sometime somewhere and are instantly bonded.
• most of you Scout camping equipment had US instead of BSA stamped on it.
• most of your siblings were born in various foreign lands.
• munched hot brotchen & gummies on the way to school.
• never quite finished decorating your place because you knew you'd be moving soon.
• notice Tom Cruise outside with no hat and having a non-regulation haircut in Top Gun.
• painted a picture on the Berlin Wall before it fell.
• panic when you can't find your ID card or passport.
• put your hand over your heart at 5 p.m. knowing the flag was coming down somewhere.
• refer to going back to the U.S. as going back to "the world."
• remember following your favorite film as it made the rounds on the AAFES theater circuit.
• remember being able to watch the Super Bowl or World Series live on TV at 2 am.
• remember hanging out at the AYA.
• start a major portion of your conversations with "when I was in �
• stand up and recite the national anthem at the start of movies.
• still do yard detail!
• still look for you ID card after you've grown up.
• stopped saying I used to live in Japan because people kept asking you if you spoke Chinese.
• the term "combat loaded" refers to how the movers load the van.
• think locals have such a limited perspective.
• think of your childhood neighbors Fathers and Mothers by their rank.
• think the US seems like a foreign country.
• think you see old classmates on every corner, whether you are in Brussels, Bangkok, or Boise.
• thought all doctors issued all-purpose capsules for every ache and pain.
• thought all pens had "US Government" printed on them.
• thought that a firing range made a great playground.
• thought that the Quartermaster was the real Santa Claus.
• thought vacations meant going stateside to visit the grandparents.
• try to take out your ID card when you enter a grocery store.
• use words like "hit the deck", "visit the head" and "pogey bait".
• used the federal warnings on your I.D. card to convince your cousins you were a military agent.
• waited every Saturday at noon for the alert sirens to go off.
• went in to hysterics when your grandparents thought of selling their house.
• went out and found everybody leaving on Maneuvers.
• went to school in a converted POW camp.
• were pleased to find upon returning stateside that the locals spoke American.
• when after 20 years as a secretary you still think of yourself as a yeoman.
• when battleship grey makes you feel warm and fuzzy.
• when you first log-in to this www site and get the goose bumps.
• woke up to F-4's zooming overhead.
• wondered who your new best friend would be as you enroll in yet another school.
• you're confused as your fianc�e describes watching trees grow large in the yard.
• you can recite which aircraft were in service in which era.
• you graduate from 12th grade and it's your 13th school .
• you had your own punch card at the local Class VI store since you were 16
• were in your late teens before you realized flashlight batteries came in any color but OD.
• trying to remember when something happened in your family is invariably tied to remembering where it took place
• Ignored th SP's warnings because your parents was "literally above them"