Military Spouse Day: 10 Reasons It's Great To Be A Military Wife

Supporting the people who defend us is a largely thankless and stressful job. Even getting through a load of laundry while your spouse is in harm's way can be an exercise in willpower. Since the invation of Afghanistan in 2001 the divorce rate for active duty couples has risen from 2.6% to 3.6%, and the number of military suicides is almost equal to the number of battlefield deaths. That's why we're psyched to celebrate Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May the 6th): Despite the difficulties, there are also benefits to being married to a military man or woman.

In honor of the holiday, I spoke to the coolest (former) Army wife ever. Her husband is a West Point graduate, a Ranger, a Harvard MBA and an all-around incredible man. He was deployed in Iraq and a few other less-than-ideal spots during the middle of the last decade, and while she was certainly very stressed, especially while pregnant during her husband's deployment, she let me in on the perks of being married to a soldier, sailor, airman or marine.

1. Pride. First and foremost, being married to someone who is willing to give their gives their best years and, potentially their lives, for the sake of the country (and the world) is humbling. Selflessness is something that we celebrate but not many of us experience it firsthand day in and out.

2. Physical fitness. Servicemen are required to keep in a certain level of shape... generally more so than the rest of the population. Exercise has been proven to be really good for you and it's nice having a spouse whose belly doubles as a place to scrub clothes.

3. They make a nice bed. Tidiness doesn't stay at white glove level when there's no one screaming man in a wide-brimmed hat threatening with 90 lbs of potatoes to peel. But the discipline to stay neat never goes away. This could come back to bite Messy Marvins.

4. Sometimes they station you somewhere nice. Every now and again, you get a year in Hawaii or San Diego (Semper Surf Party) sandwiched between a swamp in Georgia and an Alaskan tundra.