My American Culture

I have numerous American Cultures and one of the most important cultures to me is being a military brat.  I will focus on my military brat culture as Army child.  A military brat is known as a U.S. Military culture.   A military brat culture or lifestyle consist of a lot of moving from place to place.  A civilian child has a best friend from his or her hometown but a military brat has families and best friends from every contingent.  Military brat culture is challenging because of moving place to place and having to leave your family, friends, and also having to move to a different state or foreign countries and attend numerous different schools.  Military culture consisting of moving a lot and it was emotional and physical challenge not only for me but for my entire family.

As a military brat I have moved fifteen times, including moving to South Korea when I was six months old.  As a military brat, I can say it is more stressful to move when you are a teenager.  I recalled when I was fourteen years old the news came again from my parents stating we were moving to Alaska.  I did not know what to expect.  I knew it was a really frigid place and I thought we were going to be living in igloos instead of houses and live with the polar bears. The movers came to the house one day and it seem like it took forever for them to pack up of household goods. The time was getting close for us to move to Alaska and I was very nervous and was not looking forward to leaving my school and friends.  However, I can say this move to Alaska was the best experience for me as a military brat. Living in Alaska as a teenager was great for me, I felt very safe in Anchorage because the crime rate was very low. Getting registered for school is nerve racking for military brats.  As a military brat I attended four different high schools.  Moving from school to school is very challenging, however it is more difficult when you are in high school because courses you completed at your old school may not satisfy the graduation requirements at your new school.  For example, Earth Science in Alaska curriculum was different than Earth Science in North Carolina, therefore I had to retake earth science in North Carolina.  Also, the number of credits required for high school graduation was different at each school.

 Another great thing about Alaska was the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights).  There is nothing like the experience of seeing the Northern Lights which is green bands of light in the sky.   Sometimes the Northern Lights are greenish-yellow, light blue, or red.  Other cool things to do in Alaska was sightseeing, including moose watching.  I could look out of my bedroom window and watch moose touching my bedroom windows.  Of course, I would take pictures of them and send them to my family in North Carolina.  They could not believe their eyes.  Alaska was an amazing experience for me because I was able to fly over several mountains, glaciers and land on a glacier in North America’s tallest peak Denali National Park (formerly known as Mount McKinley).  In May 2012, my family and I took an enhanced flightseeing experience and the pilot landed the helicopter on one of Denali National Park glaciers.  While in air, my brother enjoyed co-pilot duties and on the glacier I enjoyed the snowball fight with my family.  After the snowball fight we walked on the glaciers for about one hour.  This was the most amazing experience in my life and if my family and I weren’t stationed in Alaska I do not believe I would have had the opportunity to land or walk on a glacier.  This flightseeing trip was a one in a life time experience for me I saw glacial formations that no human being foot has touch.

In conclusion my military brat culture was rough at the beginning but now I have learned to enjoy my military brat culture.  Being a military brat is not always easy, but I learned to become comfortable and adjust to different situations and environments.  Being a military brat is not always easy, but it gets easier for me because I have moved fifteen times in my military brat life.  Being a military brat is a wonderful experience because you meet new people and travel the world for free.