"Army Wives" [the show] Vent

Sometime last year, I suspended my thought of “I don’t need to watch it; I live it” and watched an episode of Army Wives. I was hooked. Tonight, though, after watching the perhaps third episode of Army Wives, Season 6, I am extremely disappointed. Losing a main character (Pamela moving away) so far has been the one of the few legitimate hardships the wives have faced. I am VERYYY mad to observe that now all the spouses’ soldiers are officers. The last time I checked, enlisted outnumbered officers in the Army. I find it unsatisfactory that the writers have stooped to seeking glamour instead of truth.

The children have almost completely disappeared from the show. Now, the women parade around (dressed like identical Stepford wives, now that Roxy’s wardrobe has been overhauled), without children or jobs, backstabbing and gossiping about one another and their husbands, plotting to advance their husbands’ careers. They never seem to get their hands dirty in daily life nor actually help others anymore. No shoulders proffered to cry on, no babysitting exchanged, no goods baked, no drinks had…

REAL Army wives’ lives consist of: children (or the pursuit thereof), trying to lose weight, deployment, money, laundry, school, and sometimes jobs.

The children have almost completely disappeared. There is no babysitting exchanged, no driving to and from playdates, no snotty noses, no acting out.

The wives are all slim and fit. There is no discussion of working out together or what they should eat or doing Zumba (helloooooo, it’s the new craze at Hood!) or doing a run (there’s practically one per month at Hood!).

Apparently deployment was “overdone” the past few seasons? No one is returning from or preparing for a deployment. In officers’ defense, they deploy too! The “big D” is A HUGE, if not THE BIGGEST, part of being an Army wife. I would venture to say a week does not go by when it is not thought or spoken of.

Money – a big part of everyone’s lives! While everyone knows what everyone else makes, management makes all the difference. So far, it’s not mentioned. In true television-land-style, Roxy goes on a shopping spree (to Macy’s? It wasn’t the PX!) and buys a bunch of new clothes with no hesitation or discussion of date or bills or living on a fixed income.

Laundry! E gads, the laundry!! ACUs EVERYWHERE! PTs ALWAYS need to be washed! I don’t know if they’ve ever really touched on this hilarious, authentic aspect of Army wifedom. J

School – being an Army wife, a lot of benefits open up scholastically. Complications, too, but many wives go to school on top of wife and mother duties. They’ve done alright with this in the past, with Roxy obtaining her GED in a class taught by another Army spouse, and also with Claudia Joy returning to college to finish her law degree.

Jobs. A huge part of the lives of the wives who have them. Roxy claims to still be running the Hump bar, but we haven’t seen it recently and she never really seems to be pressed for time.

I’ll give this season one more episode and see if it can redeem itself.