New Kid

Military brats all have at least one thing in common. We've all been the new kid at one point or another. Some of us are the new kids now.

For those of us not surrounded by other military brats, it can be hard explaining what we feel. The other kids around us don't understand the transient life of the military; they don't understand the struggles of trying to fit back in. They don't know what it's like to be a new kid. Sometimes, I use songs to explain what I feel.

I found this song by Alice Merton: "Homesick." The first verse includes the lines, "I was the new kid/ Didn't understand what was going on." It can feel like you know nothing when you go to a new school in an unfamiliar place. The local culture is different; the school spirit is different; the courses and the schedule and the people - it's all different, unfamiliar, and new. For me, moving from Florida to Wyoming was a huge change, and that line had never been more true for me than at that time.

Some of my favorite lines from the song go, "I liked to wear the same shirts again/They reminded me where I've been/All the places I've left my brothers." Military brats move to new places and make new friends. We keep clothes from each place we've been, reminders of comfort and familiarity in a new place. I'm sure that at some point, you've worn an old school hoodie and received weird looks in your new school, right? On my first day of my junior year, I wore my previous school's softball hoodie. It gave me a sense of security as I walked into a new school.

When military brats move, we leave behind more than memories. We leave friends, family, and a piece of ourselves. We have friends all over the world. Some of which, we may never have the chance to see again. Being the new kid can be a huge challenge for us military brats, a challenge that many may not fully understand. Yet, military brats are resilient, we have and can work through those challenges, finding ways to not only survive in our new environment, but thrive.