Walking into a loud, strange new world not knowing anyone, but expected to easily fit in and make new friends is a situation that most kids of military parents find themselves in every few years. 

Although these “military brats” may benefit from moving all over the world and from gaining knowledge of many different cultures, it is not always that easy. 

            Many military children get the privilege to live overseas in different countries and experience different cultures and people. 

The American families in different countries learn to respect new and different cultures, and to be proud of their own. 

“Living in Italy is so much fun,” said Whitney Lynch, a 16-year-old who currently lives in Italy. “It’s so much better than America.”

Some kids on the other hand, dislike living overseas. 

They dislike leaving their families and friends behind in America and going to a whole new strange place. 

Military families also get the privilege of living across the U.S., where most non-military families rarely ever leave the state where they live.  They get to experience ways of living in other states and how much culture differs in America. 

          It may not seem to be a big hardship to move somewhere new and start school not knowing anyone, but for some kids, it is a real adjustment. 

At many schools, the kids that attend them have grown up together and know each other well. They are not always open to making or accepting new friends. 

Walking into a new school can be frightening, no matter how many times you have done it. 

“That scary feeling of walking into a new school never gets old,” said freshman Maddi Paulsen, whose father is in the Navy.

Some military kids dread this day every time it happens, but others take advantage of it. It’s an opportunity to start over and meet new people, and have friends all over the world. 

As hard as it is to meet new friends at a new school, it is just as hard to leave the school. Many military kids have to face leaving all their friends and starting over again in another strange new place. However, thanks to email, mail, instant messaging, and telephones, it is much easier to keep in touch with distant friends and family around the world.

As hard as it is for the children of military families, it is also hard on the spouse married to the active military soldier.

They are the ones that mostly deal with the children in their everyday lives, because the spouse is usually off on duty.

The spouse runs the household. Both parents work together to comfort the kids when moving or when the active military parent is going off to war, but the spouse must continue to deal with the situation while the active military partner is gone.

Some marriages cannot withstand the stress of their situation, and end up divorced. This is so hard and sad for the family, especially the children. Now, the parents are even further apart making it hard to spend equal time with parents.

Both parents need to work more, and hence spend less time with their children. However, thankfully a lot of families in the military function well and love being in the military. They get a chance to experience the world together.

There are several online programs that aid military kids and their families and learning more about the new places they are going.

Some of these programs can be found on the Internet at: deploymentlink.osd.mil, www.csrees,usda.gov and dmoz.org.

They can get on these websites and find out information about their new schools, sports and activities in the area, and also entertainment in the area.

Many military families have people waiting for them at their new destinations to help show them around and get them familiar with the new area.

They usually have squadrons or units (groups of military people working together, usually like one big family), waiting for them.

They try to help them every step of the way, and they can relate to each other because all of them understand each other and know what its like to be in each others shoes.

Being a kid in the military has it advantages and disadvantages, but overall it is a great opportunity.

Many get to see so much more of the world before they are even 18 years old than an average kid would ever see in their whole life.

It may be hard at times to start all over again at a brand new school, but opportunities are there to make friends and discover cultures from all over the world.