Things I Wish Someone Had Thought To Tell Me (the mil version)

Every day I am finding out that I am learning something new (that's the point of this blog, I know). But with every new realization I really wish someone had thought to themselves, "this would be good to tell someone who is new to the base." It is likely they assume I learned these things at our previous base but let's be honest, not everything runs the same at each base! For example, at our old base they played Retreat and the National Anthem at 5 o'clock every day and if you were on base you had to stop (even if you were driving) and wait until it was finished (those in uniform had to face the music and salute). At our current base however they play the Air Force song at noon and Retreat and the National Anthem at 5 every.single.work.day. Being new to the military life and new to this base I only learned this unique quality of our base purely by accident when I walked out of a building one day and noticed that the world around me had come to an eerie halt. It is difficult enough to move to a new area or start a new job but it puts things at a whole other level when you find yourself in the military; it becomes a whole new world. My husband had the fortunate ability to go through ROTC and literally learn these things in a classroom; I, however, am learning them as a go: day-by-day. If only there was a class for me, too! It is for this reason (and for every day I learn something new the hard way) that I wish there was someone who would reach out to me, hand me a packet with all those "things your spouse doesn't think to tell you" and fill me in on all the little ways that make this (military) world tick. If you were creating this packet what kinds of things would you think to include? What have you had to pick up (hopefully not the hard way) along the way?