Inspiring Women SUMMER 2020
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Deployment is a word that gets thrown<br />
around a lot by people who have<br />
never deployed and are fond of<br />
handing out “thank you for your<br />
service“s. The word deployment is<br />
meant to symbolize military service to<br />
one’s country by going to war; being<br />
sent as an asset. You go somewhere<br />
to do a job for six (or nine or twelve)<br />
months that you’ve been training<br />
years to do. You are deployed as a<br />
tool by your country’s leaders the way<br />
a carpenter deploys a hammer. Which<br />
isn’t to say it’s a bad thing, it’s just<br />
what it is. As a service member,<br />
deployment is just a part of life. You’re<br />
either working up towards it, on it, or<br />
coming down off it waiting for the next cycle to do it again.<br />
I have deployed twice with the US Navy, both times on board an aircraft carrier while assigned<br />
to the Garudas of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 134. If that doesn’t mean anything to you,<br />
that’s ok. I’m not here to tout my experience and fill it with big words to impress. I left the Navy in<br />
2015 to live a diplomatic life with my young family and things were going pretty good for a while.<br />
And then we all learned a new phrase: Novel Coronavirus Disease. My kids began coming home<br />
from school singing handwashing ditties and asking if we were all going to get sick. Our lives<br />
were quickly locked down. Schools were closed, trips were canceled, and suddenly we found<br />
ourselves stuck in the same small apartment<br />
space with limited contact with those on the<br />
outside. After a week, my also-veteran<br />
husband and I looked at each other and<br />
said… “wow… this is just like deployment.”<br />
So I put together a lighthearted comparison<br />
of deployment and quarantine. Of course,<br />
this is my own experience and I don’t<br />
pretend to speak for those who are currently<br />
deployed on Navy ships. My views are made<br />
with humor and no disrespect for those<br />
actually quarantined and deployed at the<br />
same time. I can’t imagine what they’re<br />
going through right now.<br />
1. You’re around the same people<br />
constantly. In both situations, you’re hanging<br />
around people who act like toddlers. Except<br />
that in <strong>2020</strong>, they actually are toddlers.<br />
2. You’re separated from those you love and<br />
are used to seeing. It goes without saying<br />
that while deployed you have very little<br />
contact with friends and family. As expats,<br />
many of us are now used to this as a lifestyle,<br />
one that is made significantly more<br />
palatable with technology.<br />
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