You're absolutely right. They are very different. When they come to The Pepper Pod for a lifeshop, their stories are different. Their career or their culture is very similar, though, in that they've uprooted their family every two or three years. They've made sacrifices. However, the spouses don't have the medals to show it. They haven't had the glory of a deployment.
There is a discovery when I do lifeshops, through that, where they get to share and understand each other. That is the power and benefit of having them in the same group. They have different experiences. Women have had deployment issues and some trauma. Some of them have PTSD. At the same time, the women spouses who have not served in the military have other contributing stories that make the lifeshops so powerful. They love understanding each other.