Palm trees sway above a lush coastline with blue ocean waves under a clear sky

Don’t Forget About Military Recreation Areas

Written By Kristi Stolzenberg

We talk a lot about benefits in the military community. That little piece of laminated paper — the DOW ID card (or common access card for service members) — is a ticket to access U.S. installations, commissaries, exchanges, military treatment facilities and in-network TRICARE providers.

Kristi’s children, in jackets, stand beside red columns in a walkway, smiling at the camera

Because we don’t vacation as often as we grocery shop — a real shame, if you ask me — military lodging and recreation areas aren’t necessarily top of mind. But do you know what they are? They’re everywhere — from coast to coast, and in Europe and Asia. They’re also much cheaper than most comparable options.

They tend to book up well in advance for the people who, unlike me, remember they exist before making travel arrangements, and they’re just as much a military benefit as the commissary. Now is a great time to look ahead to see what is available this winter — or even next summer. Who knows, you might even luck out and find availability this summer.

Let’s break down the available options. As someone who has retired from a short camping career, we’ll start with hotels.

Crowded city crosswalk filled with pedestrians, surrounded by tall buildings and large digital billboards

Hotels and Resorts

During our Japan tour, we were fortunate enough to stay at beautiful hotels in Tokyo and Seoul. Both blew my expectations out of the water because up to that point, I’d only been exposed to the Inns of the Corps (temporary lodging facilities).

Nothing against those facilities, but they aren’t designed to compare to resorts or luxury hotels, and my only stays were weeks long while awaiting housing or the Patriot Express. None of those stays were particularly relaxing.

Many people are familiar with a popular military resort in Orlando. Anyone who has been stationed in Europe likely knows a well-known lodge there. It’s on my to-do list, don’t worry. There’s also a beautiful military resort in Oahu where I stayed for a family reunion in paradise while I was in college. Please don’t ask me how long ago that was, but I feel confident saying it’s probably still just as lovely.

Kristi’s child, in a green outfit, runs and jumps into ocean waves on a sandy beach

“Glamp” Grounds

What’s the difference between a glamping campground and a traditional campground? According to me (and maybe only me): walls and amenities. Though we didn’t get the chance to visit (thanks, COVID), I’ve heard great things about the campground in northern Okinawa, Japan.

There are individual furnished cabins and a spa, which is really the only camping I’ll entertain. I’d put a military recreation spot in Seward, Alaska, in the glamping category — you can snag a motel room, suite or cabin — but they lose me at yurts and tents. If that’s your cup of tea, more power to you!

Kristi’s family stands by a calm river in a wooded area with green trees

Campgrounds

Camping isn’t for me, but it is the way to go for many people! And there are plenty of spots to pitch a tent or hook up an RV. Many campgrounds offer access to outdoor activities such as boating, kayaking, fishing and the conveniences of an installation, including the commissary and exchange.

Search your state for a staycation or somewhere you’ve always wanted to go through MWR’s Best Kept Secrets around the nation.

Empty playground swing hanging still with blurred park equipment in the background

Fun for the Day

Maybe you can’t work a full vacation into your schedule, but your installation’s MWR might have something to help you make the most of a weekend or holiday break. Avoid crowds by spending the day at on-installation marinas, beaches, golf courses, movie theaters or parks. You can likely rent any equipment you might need and reserve picnic areas, pavilions or cabanas.

Not sure if these facilities are open to you? Service branch doesn’t matter. If you are active duty, in the reserve, or National Guard, a military family member, a retiree, a disabled veteran, a DOW civilian or a Purple Heart recipient, these spots are a benefit you earned.

PCS orders aren’t the only way military service shows you the world — these spots around the globe are the perfect backdrop for making memories with family and friends.

Kristi and her two children stand on a grassy golf course holding golf clubs, smiling outdoors

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness and connection. Explore a range of Morale, Welfare and Recreation resources and tools tailored to your needs.

A close-up of a bride placing a ring on her partner’s finger during a wedding ceremony.

Military Spouse Appreciation is More Than a Hashtag

Written By Lizann Lightfoot

May rolls around, and suddenly social media lights up with #MilitarySpouseAppreciationMonth posts and quick “thank you” posts.

It’s nice to see, but for many of us juggling solo parenting during deployments, hunting for jobs that fit around PCS moves and carrying the invisible load of keeping the household running, those shoutouts can feel surface-level.

After two decades as a Marine spouse, I’ve learned that real appreciation doesn’t come from social media posts. It starts inside, with recognizing our own strengths and taking small steps to celebrate them year-round.

Lizann and her husband smile together at their wedding.

Military spouses didn’t always sign up for this life the way our service members did. When we said, “I do,” few of us pictured the loneliness of moving every two or three years, never quite putting down roots and always being the new face in the spouse group. We didn’t anticipate career dreams getting paused and restarted so many times.

The reality for many spouses is that each new base means another entry-level job, another gap on the résumé and another hit to retirement savings — because there’s rarely time or stability to build a 401(k) of our own.

By the time our service members retire, many of us realize we’ve sacrificed decades of our own financial security.

Lizann smiles and flexes her arm in front of stacked moving boxes in a garage or storage space.

Lizann takes a mirror selfie while painting a wall with a roller, wearing a casual T-shirt.

Military spouses who become parents face many additional unexpected challenges, such as giving birth alone in a hospital while our spouse is on the other side of the world or raising toddlers far from grandparents and cousins.

We become solo parents far more often than we ever imagined: handling every bedtime, school conference and midnight fever solo while our spouse trained, deployed or stood duty.

We didn’t plan on restarting medical care for ourselves and our kids after every move, hunting for new doctors who accept TRICARE, explaining our child’s history all over again and waiting months for appointments.

Lizann holds her newborn baby against her chest, both resting in a hospital bed.

A sleeping newborn lies on an American flag blanket with a yellow ribbon tied around them.

The challenges are real and stubborn. The isolation of military life can be crushing — leading to depression, anxiety and even secondary post-traumatic stress disorder from years of constant uncertainty. These are deep, painful sacrifices that civilian friends and family rarely see. They are unseen burdens that are rarely acknowledged or discussed. No gift card or cute hashtag can fix them.

But here’s the empowering part: True appreciation begins within us, not from others. If you are feeling unseen or underappreciated, think for a moment about whether you ever acknowledge yourself. How have you celebrated your own accomplishments? When you look in the mirror, do you smile with confidence at the person you’ve become and the situations you have conquered?

Start by building a personal “wins” list. Jot down what you’ve accomplished lately, no matter how small. Maybe you kept the kids fed and happy through a long temporary duty, navigated a tough school enrollment after a move or just got out of bed on a hard day.

During one deployment stretch, my “brag wall” included things such as “Took five kids to the festival, no one got lost!” and “Caught the mouse in the kitchen.” Reading it back gave me a quiet boost.

Do this regularly. It’s a reminder that you’re not just surviving, you’re thriving in ways most people can’t imagine.

A woman holds a baby and a sign reading, “This guy wants to meet his Daddy!” with people in military uniforms in the background

Next, lean on the resources designed for us. There are hundreds of employers committed to hiring and retaining military spouses, and many offer flexible, remote or portable roles. Military OneSource’s Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program is a gold mine.

Through MySECO, you can connect with career coaches who have advanced degrees in counseling or education. They can help at any stage: clarifying goals, résumé tweaks for military life gaps, finding portable certifications or prepping for virtual hiring fairs. It’s free, confidential and available 24/7.

Lizann and her husband smile in front of American and Marine Corps flags, with her husband wearing a decorated military uniform.

Advocating for better support in your community is another powerful step. When we speak up together, change happens — more flexible policies, better awareness and real support.

Join or start conversations in local spouse groups, online pages or base family readiness programs. Share what’s working (or not) about child care, employment barriers or license portability. Push for events beyond the May spotlight, such as ongoing workshops or employer meetups.

Appreciation Month is a great reminder, but don’t limit it to May. Instead, make it a habit. Celebrate small victories, use the tools available and lift each other up. True strength comes from within, from knowing you’ve got this, even on the toughest days.

So this month (and every month), look in the mirror and say thank you to the strong, capable person staring back. You’ve earned it.

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness and connection. Explore a range of mental health resources tailored to your needs.

A young child stands with arms outstretched facing a low-flying aircraft over an open desert landscape

Romanticizing Military Life

Written By Lauren Hagee Glintz

Sometime after our PCS this summer, I realized with increasing unease that I occasionally sensed booms in our new North Carolina house. I’d be rocking the baby, and I’d almost hear but definitely feel a deep, vibrating boom, usually several in a row. They weren’t loud enough to wake the baby, just enough to make me look around confused, and then they’d stop.

One day, it started booming while my husband was home. “Do you hear that? Is that something military?” I asked him. We are surrounded by military bases here — within an hour of MCAS Cherry Point, Camp LeJeune and MCAS New River — and I assumed my Marine husband would know about any military things.

He did not know about the booms. In fact, he shared my unease. We looked at each other, wondering if our new house was threatening to explode. My husband even went into the attic to look around. When he didn’t find anything, I texted some of my new neighborhood friends about the booms to see if they were experiencing them as well.

One friend immediately responded, “Oh, that’s the heavy artillery training,” and sent a link to noise advisories from Camp LeJeune.

Reassured that the booms are, in fact, not our house threatening impending disaster, I actually find them amusing. “Oh yes,” I imagine nonchalantly telling my friends and family, “Sometimes it booms at my house,” as if it’s the most charming thing in the world. And that’s because I am a big believer in romanticizing my life.

Romanticizing life is fairly buzzy on social media right now, and honestly, I’m all for it. I love the idea of taking the normal (and not-so-normal) of your everyday life and reframing it as something special. I also like that it’s not about ignoring what’s hard or pretending things are easy, rather noticing what’s already good or interesting in your life, no matter how small, and leaning into it.

It’s not rushing through your morning coffee, or in my case, your morning diet soda, but reveling in the beautiful ritual of popping open the sparkly silver can and pouring it into a glass filled to the brim with ice. It’s hearing artillery fire and finding whimsy.

Despite being a social media trend, I think romanticizing your life is important, particularly when it comes to military life. So many things about being a military spouse are tough. It’s easy to slip so far into survival mode that one day you wake up and realize you’re sort of miserable.

When you romanticize your life, though, you remind yourself you’re the star of your own movie, not just the supporting character to your spouse’s military career. Suddenly, cooking dinner isn’t just cooking dinner: It’s the fun kitchen montage of the leading lady and deserves a soundtrack of your favorite music. With this perspective shift, it’s easier to feel excited about your day-to-day life, even when things are otherwise hard.

A toddler stands in a grassy yard reaching toward oranges on a tree, with a colorful beach ball beside them near a house

Take, for example, PCSing. As military spouses, we do not get to choose our home. While it’s very easy for me to romanticize coastal North Carolina, I cannot say the same about our last duty station, Yuma, Arizona, a remote desert town at the edge of the United States.

When I got off the plane in Yuma for the very first time, my two-month-old in my arms, it was 118 degrees. There is no romanticizing 118 degrees. But! There is romanticizing the fact that Yuma is the sunniest city on earth (this is a true, searchable fact!). And the inherited orange tree in my backyard that was so heavy with fruit in the winter that I taught myself to make marmalade.

And the helicopters and planes that flew low over town, much to the delight of my toddler. And the quirky shops! And the tamale festival! And! And! And! Eventually, I grew to love Yuma, despite the 118-degree days, and we built a beautiful — dare I say romantic? — life there.

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness, and connection. Explore a range of moving resources and tools tailored to your needs.

Featured Topics

Man sitting with dog on dock

PCS Prep

woman meditating

Self-Care