When the Soldier's Away, the Blogger Will Be Silent?

For the military wife bloggers out there, or anyone whose husband is frequently gone on business trips, do you blog when the soldier is away from home? Do you feel you have enough anonymity or are you not concerned about any safety issues? Does it matter if he is away for a shorter or longer time? (I'm assuming male spouses don't worry about this...but maybe I'm wrong.)

When DH was active duty, I always felt uncomfortable blogging about his absence while he was on field exercises...yet, I blogged about his deployment while he was gone.

It does not make a ton of sense, but I think part of it was the fact that there was no way to avoid the issue of his deployment on a Military Spouse blog and another part was, living in Killeen, it wouldn't be that hard for someone to figure out whose spouse was gone anyway. So, blogging about the deployment, on an anonymous blog, didn't seem to add significantly to the safety risk.

Since then, I've started a number of other online projects that are connected with my real name. And people who know me in real life have discovered this blog (and that's a whole 'nother can of worms).

DH has left Active Duty, but is still in the National Guard.

Suddenly, when he leaves, I feel exposed.

This time, I feel comfortable blogging about his absense because I'll have family visiting. He's headed off to Captain's Career Course in preparation for taking command this summer. But generally, if he will be gone overnight, I just don't say anything.

How about you? What are your thoughts and comfort level on this topic?

Military Family Carnival: Molly Wants You!

Starting in November, I will host a blog carnival for Military Family Members and Spouses (and Military Personnel are welcome, too, although you may have to put your own spin on the topic).

I hope give out a prize once a month, drawn randomly from all the participants that month. If you post in multiple weeks, you'll get multiple entries!!! If I find lots of sponsors, I'll give out prizes more frequently.

Here's how it works:

1. Each week on Monday I'll post a topic and include a little box where you can add the title of your post and your link to that specific post. If you want to plan ahead, I'll put the topics for the month in the sidebar.
   
2. Write a post (or revisit and revise an old post) and link back to the specific post for that week where everyone will be adding their links.
3. On Friday, I'll change the date on the post to make it appear at the top of the page so everyone will see your cool posts. Please go visit each other's posts and read and comment.
4. The following Monday I will add all the links into the post permanently and start with a new post.
   
5. Got suggestions for topics??? I'm all ears. Post them here in the comments or shoot me an e-mail: mollypitcher at gmail dot com.