Things I wish I knew before marrying an Army guy...

I recently have read an article that was talking about all the things one Army wife wished she knew before marrying an Active Duty Soldier. It talked about things like deployments, being a single mom for long stretches of time and coping with the fear during deployments. Well I thought I would make my own list and would love anyone's input on this one as well. For me a lot of things have more to do with daily life, but also with some of the inherent issues of separations due to training and deployments. So here it is:

I wish I knew....

1. that I would have to learn a complete new language of acronyms and abbreviations before I really could follow my husbands descriptions of his day... TA-50s, MOS, TOC, AGTS, CCTT and pack... anyone?
2. that I will truly cherish my alone time when he is off to some training for a few weeks and will miss that if he "hangs around the house" for 6 months straight.
3. that deployments not only are rough to get through but also help you grow and discover so much more about yourself.
4. that it could annoy me if he gets home early unexpectedly, much more so than when he is late.
5. that I would be expected to, or encouraged to, take on this certain role of Army wife and it really is not like the TV series Army Wives, even though some of the things are pretty realistic, but it is more about "just accepting" that the Army will rule my life through my husbands duties. (But really this is not as bad as it might sound)
6. that there is more gossip on an Army base that in a Sorority house.
7. that my kids would not be bothered too much by any move because even though they are only 4 and 5 we have moved 3 times in their lifetime already.
8. that taking our dogs overseas is not cheap and presents it's own set of problems (hotels on post typically only have a few pet rooms available and they are usually booked out forever in advance)
9. that there is no such thing as THE typical Army base, they are all different with different vibes, people, expectations, services and most importantly weather!
10. Did I mention the gossip yet?
11. that establishing a career for myself is so hard, between moves, job availability and kids I do have a few things that make it a bit complicated.
12. that what I do can and will somehow reflect on my husband, not to talk about the fact that theoretically he can be held responsible for everything I do on post
13. oh and the gossip, boy oh boy worse than in high school!!!

This is my preliminary list and I surely will add more as they come to me. PLEASE ADD ANYTHING THAT YOU WISH YOU  HAD KNOW BEFORE "JOINING" THIS CRAZY CIRCUS!! (as for me calling the Army a circus, I mean my life personally and in the best way positive: a lot of different places, packing and unpacking, new people around every corner, every person fulfills a specific role etc. *come to think of it that might be worth discussing in a whole seperate post- will do that later today I guess*)

Comment away please!