Counseling for military couples?

Ajb77

My FH and I really would like to do some marriage counseling before the big day, but its very hard when we don't live in the same state. When he is not out training, he is still nine hours away and we will prob only see eachother for a couple weekends until the wedding.
My question is, how can we make sure we are ready for marriage and get some counseling while being so far apart. If it helps, we are not sure who the officiant will be but prob a base chaplin. So far we have gotten two books to read and then talk about each chapter on the phone together.

Beachy730

Thats definitely a great start.  I've heard of several brides who have found people to do their marriage counseling over Skype.  You could try googling for it in your area, or call around to different counselors and see if they could or would do it.

Sammy0709

My H and I didn't have a lot of opportunity for this during our engagement.  For most of it he was in Afghanistan and when he wasn't, he was across the country.  I was also a full time student and working a full time job so our time was very limited.  H would talk to his unit's chaplain when he could and address issues that he thought might come up.  He would then relay whatever information to me.  Once H and I were married and I had moved in, we went to see the chaplain together. 

One thing I will say is finding the right person to talk to is important.  I found it very easy to talk about our concerns with the chaplain because he was very personable and not pushy.  Find someone that you and your FI are both comfortable talking to.  Convenience shouldn't be number one priority because if you don't feel comfortable, nothing will get accomplished.

mysticl

We were married by a Navy Chaplain and he did some counseling with us.  He was awesome, very easy to talk to.  He does use military examples so it required a little Sailor to English translation.  Especially at the rehearsal when he told my tween bridesmaids to "go forward" and that we would "deploy from there".