So how did I get into this fine mess Ollie?

So back in the Introduction I mentioned that one of my reasons for taking a job assignment in the Netherlands was to continue the live abroad experience. For those who don't really know my travel experiences let me just say that until I was in High School my family did not live in the same place for more than three years at a time. The longest time at any one location was in Japan and that was my second time living in Japan. I was born in Osaka and moved to the US when I was about 18 months old.

Iwatayama Monkey Park

Hand over the peanuts kid!

Mother and I at Iwatayama Monkey Park 

I obviously don't really remember much from when we first lived in Japan outside of an earthquake dropping stuff on me. But I had always had a feeling of not belonging when I entered public school in the US. Yes, most of the schools I attended also had a student body composed of other military brats but still envied the others who knew each other since early childhood. It wasn't until I took this assignment and signed up with an expat website that I found the following term Third Culture Kids. This term helped to explain why I have felt the need for adventure and why I didn't fit in with my "civilian" schoolmates.

Third Culture Kids

Third-culture kids are those who have spent some of their growing up years in a foreign country and experience a sense of not belonging to their passport country when they return to it. In adapting to life in a "foreign" country they have also missed learning ways of their homeland and feel most at home in the "third-culture" which they have created. Little understood by American schools, where they are often considered an oddity, what third culture kids want most is to be accepted as the individuals that they are.

The above paragraph is an excerpt taken from a US State webpage http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c21995.htm

Okay, I can hear some of you thinking that if I moved to the US when I was under the age of 2 and did not return to Japan until I was 10 how can I claim to be a Third-culture kid (TCK)? Well of course I am special as I was also a  Military Brat , hence all of the moving. The Department of Defense also has a webpage for Military Brats.  I saw my childhood experiences replayed when I read these articles. The memories of life on Air Force Bases came flooding back. I also recalled what it was like to attend civilian public schools and how we did not fit in with the civilian children very well. We, the Military Brats, learned not to make deep friendships as you were not likely to see the same person again at another base. Also you learned to be able to pack your limited belongings efficiently and often.

So here I am with a limited amount of luggage and possessions living in another country trying to fit in. But it is an adventure after all ;-)

For my friends who are also Military Brats or through their own military service raised their children who then by reference are Military Brats here are other web resources. I haven't really signed up at any of these sites but have gone to a few sites in the past to see old photos of the bases that I have either lived on or next to. Many of the bases are no longer in use and have been converted to civilian use. But reliving the memories of each base was interesting. For a few memories I realized I had incorrectly recalled the actual location or design when looking at the photos. None the less it was still fun.

Military 'Brat' Web Resources

The Internet has a wealth of Web sites military brats can use to connect with each other -- and outsiders can use for insight into the brat lifestyle. Here are some:

• http://www.militarybrats.com/ is home to Military Brats Online. The six-year-old site is a free resource designed to reconnect military brats with each other and their heritage. Its school alumni page athttp://www.militarybrats.com/alumni.shtmluses pull-down menus to school alumni associations.
• http://www.military-brats.com is the Military Brats Registry, a way for brats to locate other brats from childhood, as well as articles by brats on aspects of the brat experience and links to other sites.
• http://www.tckworld.com/opfoot/ is the site for Operation Footlocker, founded by Wertsch and two other brats in 1996. Three footlockers crisscross the country, going from one gathering of brats to another. Brats add memorabilia -- objects or written memories -- to the footlockers. When they are full, they are emptied and their contents are archived for a future brats museum in Wichita. (More on Operation Footlocker...)
• http://www.tckworld.com is the home page of TCK World. In addition to being the host of Operation Footlocker, the site is for "Third Culture Kids." The term refers to brats whose world is neither the military one inside the fence nor the civilian one outside, but a "third."
• /mtom/, the DoD's Military Teens on the Move site, is designed for teen-agers and provides information on coping with moves, as well as teen advice and a chat room.
• http://www.overseasbrats.com is Overseas Brats, an organization founded in 1986. It is for U.S. citizens who have attended school overseas. It helps connect overseas high school alumni groups and also offers a discussion forum.
• http://www.SDIT.org is the site of Sons and Daughters in Touch, which provides connection and support to the children of those who died or remain missing as a result of the war in Vietnam.