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(More customer reviews)I'm not a Navy spouse, but I watched one close up during 18 years as a "Navy junior." I'm sure that a guide like this would have been very useful to her ... especially during those early years when Dad was overseas (the section beginning on page 147, "A Special Challenge: Dad at Sea When the Baby is Born" ... well, that baby was me).
On a lark, I compared this title to two somewhat similar earlier volumes, The Navy Wife by Anne Briscoe Pye and Nancy Shea (1942), and Welcome Aboard - A Service Manual for the Naval Officer's Wife by Florence Ridgely Johnson (1956). The differences between those two books and this one highlight not only the many changes in the Navy itself over five or six decades, but also reinforce why Laura Hall Stavridis' book is so valuable. Whereas the earlier books had a big focus on the social aspects of Navy life (both books were explicitly intended for the officer's wife) and "practical" tips like how to drive cross-country to visit your husband when he's visiting another port, this book is more thoroughly practical, with an emphasis on the many support systems now in place to help the spouse (male or female) of any Navy person (officer, NCO, or enlisted) deal with the many demands of this challenging position.
As with those other books, "Navy Spouse's Guide" includes a capsule description of the Navy and how it's organized, a glossary of important, and potentially confusing, terms, and other things the reader will be expected to know. At the same time, though, Stavridis knows that the "Navy spouse" is no longer wedded to the Service in the way she used to be, and that she (or he) most likely has a career and other time-demands of her own. That's why this book is so useful when confronting situations like preparing for a move overseas ... it's practically a checklist of things to do and people to contact that will help the Navy spouse, who's often left making many of these arrangements, navigate the situation as smoothly and easily as possible.
An awful lot has changed between 1942 or 1956 and today, and this book is a powerful reminder of that. But the historical interest is far less important than the day-to-day reality of the modern Navy spouse. Whether you're about to marry into the Navy, or have been following the Fleet for years, I think this is a book you'll find yourself returning to frequently.
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