Lat night I was doing a search for guides for wives, any branch service, on how to conduct yourself and the family. I remembered seeing one in the 80's at a base commanders house and chuckling and rolling my eyes at the formal conduct expected as a military spouse. Not to long ago a friend of mine received a new version of the same and it too was just as funny. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to incorporate some of that in my book. (Just a thought)
As I was searching, I came across an obit for a lady, Peggy Teeters, who in the 60's write a column for the Atlanta Constitution on being an Army wife during WWII. I am going to try to find these articles. Might just have to do a road trip to Atlanta for research - Trader Joes and Dekalb Farmers Market here I come!
When my husband was my boyfriend, he took me on base for the first time, and of course we had to check out the Military Clothing store. (What a funny place!) As he was checking out the uniforms, I looked at the books, and picked up the "Officer's Wife Handbook." I opened it to a random page, and read something like this: "when entertaining, you will find bamboo lap trays an essential item, as your guests will have trouble carrying all of..." I slammed the book shut, and as my then-boyfriend came up to me nearly shouted, "I will NEVER own bamboo lap trays!"
ReplyDeleteThat was over ten years ago. Next week, I'm hosting a large gathering, and I actually caught myself considering buying lap trays...
Just came across your blog on milblogging.com, and I think you have a very interesting project going here! Amazing to see how the military culture has changed, isn't it? I do not own the book either (in fact, my response to it was similar to Kendra's), but I have come across several military wives who are still very focused on the expectations lined out in the handbook.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing how your thesis develops!