Military Spouses Do Not Deserve Their Partner's Rank And Privileges
12 May 2026 • by Bob • Military, Humor
A now-retired Master Sergeant from the US Army, Mark Baker, has spent years drawing a cartoon called Private Murphy's Law, which follows the career of the cartoon's namesake, Murphy, from his initial enlistment through basic training, a series of promotions, and eventually as he becomes an NCO serving tours in multiple theaters of conflict. For soldiers and veterans like me, Private Murphy's Law does an excellent job of satirizing the never-ending ridiculousness that soldiers are forced to endure, and as such it is a constant source of amusement, especially when it hits close to home.
With that in mind, I loved the following cartoon from Baker that addresses an issue that reared its ugly head far too often when I was serving in uniform: military spouses who believe their partners' ranks are somehow magically applied to them, and as such they believe they are entitled to the same privileges that their spouses have earned. I could go on and on about the military's particular brand of outdated classicism and how its archaic practices produce boorish and disrespectful behavior from the spouses of high-ranking military members, but I'll let this Private Murphy comic illustrate what I'm talking about.
On a related note, and I swear this is a true story: way back in the late 1980s, I was stationed with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) in Fulda, Germany, which had a single commissary on Downs Barracks. As anyone who's been in the military for more than a few months knows, the commissary is a hellish nightmare on payday, and this is primarily for two reasons:
- Everyone in the military is paid on the same day
- Everything is sold out on the day after payday
In short, if you really need something, you have to endure the crowds at the commissary.
Of course, nearly all soldiers have to work on payday, and since the 11th ACR in Fulda was an all-male combat unit, that meant the crowds in the commissary were 99.9% military wives (often with several children in tow). All these factors contributed to a chaotic quagmire in the checkout lines that was sheer misery to participate in.
On one fateful day, the wife of a friend of mine was waiting in the protracted & serpentine checkout line at the commissary in Fulda, when another woman walked up and inserted herself into the line in front of her. My friend's wife spoke up and politely said, "Excuse me - but the end of the line is back there," and she pointed to the far end of the commissary. The line-jumper somewhat nastily retorted, "My husband is Colonel so-and-so. Who's your husband? What's his rank?"
My friend's wife thankfully had a solid backbone, and she exclaimed, "It's none of your damn business who my husband is! His rank isn't MY rank, and your husband's rank isn't YOUR rank, so get your ass to the back of the line or I'll call the MPs!" And with that, the summarily wounded & justifiably embarrassed idiot ducked her head and walked to the back of the line, where she belonged.
As I said earlier, this is a true story. I've always found it troubling that those types of simpleminded spouses exist in the military, which is why I absolutely love this cartoon from Private Murphy, even though the reality of its content is eternally aggravating.
Tags: Military, Humor, 511th-MI-Company