When Julie McCarthy married her Army officer boyfriend Lee, she knew their lives would take them to different places.
Just 18 months after she said 'I Do', the couple packed their bags and set up a new home in Germany.
At the start it was exciting and new, but 24 years and three children later, the couple have now moved 16 times.
Speaking to mark Armed Forces Day, the McCarthy family's story proves exactly how much our heroes and their loved ones sacrifice to protect us.
As well as their seven years in Germany, the family have lived in America as well as numerous locations around the UK.
When they were first married the couple enjoyed the moves and getting to explore new places.
"When it's just the two of you it's fun actually. It's easier when it's just two to consider", Julie told Mirror Online.
"I realised that if I didn't go with him we wouldn't see each other very much, and we were newly married.
"It was exciting and terrifying."
They moved into an Army patch and were surrounded by other families who knew exactly what it was like to drop everything and move.
"It wasn't as if we were moving on our own. Everyone is so welcoming. The community puts its arms around you, that's what I love about it."
But when their sons Callum, now 19, Max, 17 and Finlay, 14, started education thing became more difficult.
They wanted to keep their boys with them but this meant finding them new schools and new friends every two or so years.
Moves often happen after applications have closed or midway through the academic year, meaning siblings are often placed at different schools - making pick-up and drop-off a nightmare.
But when Callum was seven and the family were packing up ready to move to a new area which would see him start his fourth school in just a few years, one comment broke his parents' hearts.
"My eldest came home saying 'I'm not going to bother making friends anymore because there's no point, we'll just move'."
They decided to send Callum and his younger brothers to a boarding schools to give them a stable and reliable education.
Julie says: "As a comprehensive school girl it's something I was completely against.
"But I just thought, no."
The boys always had the choice to leave the school and move home, but they were all very settled at their new school.
"I miss having them around with me.
"It makes quite resistant kids but the stress of finding good school places for them, it's bad enough for parents who don't move.
"Each of my three boys has handled it quite differently.
"When push comes to shove they are quite happy where they are. They've got their friends around them.
"It was the right thing to do. We've moved eight times since then. It's just not practical."
Apart from being away from her boys, Julie says the hardest thing for her is trying to keep her career on track.
She loves her work and refused to give it up despite all the moves, but it means she has faced some horrifying commutes over the years.
She currently does a three-hour door-to-door trip twice a day from Bristol to London, where she has a job with the Armed Forces Charity.
She said: "I'm lucky now as I have a job that I love, but it's been really hard working to maintain my career.
"I value working and I enjoy what I do. I enjoy my job and my husband enjoys his job, so it's a compromise.
"He liked to move. He does the easy bit. He's got a job to go to and ready made friends."
However Julie says that the Army community is always a huge support, and because so many families move about people understand what it's like as they're in the same boat.
"You get very good at unpacking boxes. I can set up a house in four days, that's my record.
"You get used to it. I wouldn't say you like it.
"It does get tiring, but you get itchy feet. You start to think 'where is next?'.
"It can be devastating, especially where you make really good friends. But people understand, we're all moving."
- SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity is a proud partner of Armed Forces Day 2019 – find out more at ssafa.org.uk/AFD
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