Weddingbee boards

Well, you won't know anything until you go through it--i mean there is no 'up front knowledge'. you sign up and then find out details LATER. It's sucky.

Yes, it is VERY likely you will have to move somewhere far away. Your FI may not have much of a choice in where he goes. For us, we picked 10 places he'd be willing to take on as a permanent station (4 years) and the Army picked one off that last. I ended up staying behind in Missouri while he got stationed in Georgia.

Yes he could be deployed for as long as 12 months. I think they stopped the 15 month deployment nonsense we had to go through. There is never any guarantee he can't be deployed. When it happens, it changes your relationship. In my case, for the better.

Boot camp is like 8 weeks long I think. He probably won't get to talk to you very much, if at all. When DH did officer camp (very different) he got one phone call while he was there. One.

Does your FI have a college degree? If so, I HIGHLY encourage him to go the officer route. The pay is a lot better. And from what I hear, generally more respected. He's less likely to be treated poorly. I think this becomes moot if you've been enlisted for awhile, though--you've earned yourself by then. But in the beginning...ugh, it can suck.

Why the military? Why the coast guard? Are the fitness standards feasible for him to achieve?

Your life will be very unpredictable. Do you have a career? Most military wives have a hard time holding onto one b/c they end up following thier husbands. It takes a long time to get to the point where your life int he military is predictable. These people usually have a lot of time invested. For us, we'd have new stations every 4 years if we chose to stay, sometimes 2. I didn't want to move around that much. Something like what I do for a living is not easily transferrable but most of my friends have gone into nursing or teaching so they can move around more easily. And a lot of them simply do not work. Military men can work very long hours depending on whre they are.  Is your FI someone who takes instruction well? no matter who it is from? My husband found this very frustrating--having to listen to your superiors just b/c they were your superiors. Even tho they were complete idiots. But b/c of the heirarchy, you have no way to deal.

Go see a recruitor together to get all the basic questions answered. Then meet some people and see what their lives are like. Some people love it, some hate it. It wasn't a lifestyle we coudl get on board with forever though.